Sometimes you overlook the obvious. It’s right there in front of your face but you don’t see it. If it were a snake it would have bit you.
Remember to Optimize Your Sitelinks
Sitelinks appear under your site’s home page search result on Google. Not every site gets them and when you do the links are generated algorithmically. The sitelink algorithm isn’t particularly refined, so it’s up to you to optimize the links.
Thankfully, Google makes sitelink management rather painless. Through Google Webmaster Central you can quickly review the algorithmically generated sitelinks and block ones you don’t wish to appear in the sitelink list. No, you cannot add a sitelink. The potential for abuse is simply too high.
Sitelink Management
SEO is not a set it and forget it business and this extends to sitelink management.
Once you’ve blocked a sitelink, it won’t appear in the Google search results for 90 days. This period will be extended every time you visit the Sitelinks page on Webmaster Tools.
So don’t forget to check in on your sitelinks to ensure that you’re putting your best foot forward on your branded search queries. An embarrassing sitelink could wind up damaging your brand.
Et Tu Google?
Just prior to SMX West Google released an SEO self-assessment. Their SEO Report Card (pdf), showed that only 32% of Google products (14 of 44) had appealing sitelinks. So, take comfort, it’s not just you that’s overlooked sitelink optimization.
Yet, two months after identifying this issue, sitelinks for Google Insights for Search have clearly not been optimized.
Et Tu Google?
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