How to change your Google sitelinks
When Google shows your site in the search engine results it may show additional links under the page. This is common for brand searches where your site is clearly differentiated from other search results and, for strong sites, it can be displayed for sub-brand or category/service searches.
Example of Sitelinks for a brand search
How does Google decide which sitelinks to show?
Google analyses the link structure of your site to find the sub-pages of your site that it considers will save users time and allow them to quickly find the information they’re looking for. Typically your most popular pages are the ones that Google will show to users as sitelinks.
Why does Google not show sitelinks for my site?
If your site is new or has low trust or authority Google may decide not to show any sitelinks.
If you are not ranking in the #1 search position for the search term entered then you are unlikely to see sitelinks – although for high authority sites this may still happen.
Search for your brand and also try searching for your full company name (include ‘Ltd’ if you are a UK limited company). Does Google show sitelinks? Is it possible your brand name or company name has another meaning that Google may determine is more likely the user’s intent with the search?
How do I change the sitelinks that Google displays?
Up until October 2016, there was an option within Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) that allowed a webmaster to demote pages that you didn’t want to appear as a sitelink. This was a useful method to remove unwanted sitelinks. You couldn’t decide which pages to include but at least if Google made an odd decision to show your terms & conditions page or privacy policy (I’ve seen this happen) you had a method to remove them.
But from October 2016 Google dropped the sitelinks option from Google Search Console. You are no longer able to manually control which pages are displayed.
Is there anything I can do?
For Google, all you can do is influence the algorithm’s decision by working to increase the trust and authority of your site and the pages you hope to appear as a sitelink.
However, the option to demote links is still available within Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing refers to sitelinks as deep links. You can select to demote a page for up to 90 days.
thank you for sharing
This content is awesome. Knowing which pages Google will show can help clients in searching through your website and deciding on the information that they want easily.
Thanks for sharing the content
Can we add sitelinks manually?
No. See the article for a detailed explanation.
This article is misleading. period.
In what way?
“How to change your google sitelinks” …
… “You are no longer able to control which pages are displayed”
OK, valid point. The article was originally written in 2016 when it was possible to manually change your Google sitelinks but then an update / rewrite was required when Google changed its policy.
Nonetheless, I would point you to the “Is there anything I can do?” section as trust & authority (from external and internal linking) can make a difference to which sitelinks Google decides to display.
This article really helps me at the time when i didn’t find the appropriate answer for my clients question.
Can you suggest me that how can i improve da and pa of the main pages to whom i want in top of the sitelinks?
the article is good thou i wish google didn’t take away the ability to demote links as it would help in a situation were malware is spamming your links.
Sometimes, sitelinks is not good for me, google show author page or weak page, so i blocked the these pages. But your article is perfect. Thanks.
When i see my website sitelinks, i understand Google love my website 🙂
If our website is new or has low trust or authority Google may decide not to show any sitelinks.
Interesting post!!
Great work and information.Thanks for sharing
Nice one
Nice article dude, I searched everywhere for an answer.