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Google recently announced that it will end the sitelinks search box on November 21. The feature was introduced to Google Search more than ten years ago. Due to its slowly dwindling usage, the search giant has finally decided to retire it.
Let us see what this means for users, website owners, and SEO professionals.
What is the Sitelinks Search Box?
Sitelink search box was rolled out in 2014. This allowed users to run site-specific searches straight from Google’s search results. Any time you tried searching for a company’s name, this box always popped up above the site links. This allowed the users to search for relevant content on a site instantly without first visiting the website.
The feature was supposed to provide a better user experience. The direct search option enabled users to locate information faster, but Google has seen its usage decrease year after year.
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What Made it Retire?
This is why Google chose to retire the sitelinks search box. The company said, “Over time, we have noticed that usage has dropped.” In this regard, they found it prudent to remove this feature. This is among the many efforts Google has made to make its Search more streamlined.
This was useful to many, but less users used it. Google always evaluates its tools and features. If something no longer serves its intended purpose, they remove it.
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Effect on Search Rankings
A major concern of the owners of websites is how this change will impact their search rankings. Google confirmed that removing the sitelinks search box does not impact search rankings. That is to say, it will not affect the position your website has in the results of a search.
However, other site links will still be displayed as usual. This change is purely visual and does not touch the sitelinks search box. Such clarity does comfort many of those worried about declines in traffic or visibility, though.
- Global Rollout
It will remove the sitelinks search box globally. That means it will impact all languages and all countries. For the record, this is not an algorithmic change. It won’t appear in the Search status dashboard.
So what does this mean for webmasters or SEO experts? This is something to take notice of, but this change means no change in the fact that how Google decides to rank the website.
- Google Tools Updates
The company will also delete some of the tools in this move. The sitelinks search box rich results report will be deleted from the Search Console. Related Markup will no longer have the highlighting effect in Rich Results Test.
These are updates regarding the retirement of the feature. If you are a website owner, you might want to know about this change. Understanding how these tools work is important in order to maintain your site’s performance.
- Structured Data Considerations
Google also made clear that there is no need to remove structured data related to the sitelinks search box. Unsupported structured data will not cause any problems in Search or create errors in Search Console reports.
This means you don’t have to rush to update your structured data right away. Of course, it’s best to remain aware of any best practices about structured data moving forward.
‘Website’, which is a structured data item for the names of web sites, is still supported; the use of this form of structured data is necessary to make your website viewable in more search results now.
History
The sitelinks search box was one feature which would see an improvement in users finding more particular content. It included even more features such as autocomplete over the years, thus making it easier for the user. Most website owners adopted the use of schema markup to combine their own search pages and this feature.
User behavior has changed though. Such a change in usage is evidence that there should always be evolution in SEO strategies.
Conclusion
Google’s site links search box is going to retire a pretty useful feature that’s well more than a decade old. Of course, a change of this sort sounds pretty dramatic but look for neither the removal nor its lack thereof to influence your rankings or affect your site links. Site owners are expected to create user-friendly and approachable websites actively.
Adapt to developments in Google Search for successful long-term usage. Learn how the retirement of a particular aspect of Google Search and the reason behind it has led you to be far better positioned in this evolution of SEO. Remember, the essence of all this is delivering a good user experience and adhering to best practices. Therefore, your website will become evergreen in search rankings despite all the changes implemented.
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