Google recently made some under-the-radar changes to sitelinks in the organic search results. The first change removed small sitelinks from below regular organic blue links that render for high search volume queries (Google has since fixed this glitch). The second change adjusted the number of large sitelinks being displayed for branded searches (this is most likely a test). Even though it does not look like either of these changes will have a significant impact on traffic, they have caused dramatic fluctuations in impressions and average position in Google Search Console (GSC). If you experienced that moment of panic when you did your last GSC check-in, take a look at this article to better understand: what happened with sitelinks in the search results. what effects the changes had on GSC data. how to check your site for declines. what the changes mean for SEO. What happened to sitelinks? Google made two changes that reduced the number of sitelinks being shown on search engine results pages (SERPs). The decline started gradually at the beginning of September and saw a sharp drop around October 23, 2016. Change #1: Google removed small sitelinks from search listings (bug) Small sitelinks often show up for high search volume queries, both branded and non-branded. You may not have noticed these — data suggests they are not commonly used by searchers. Recently, these sitelinks stopped appearing in search results, which Google confirmed was a bug. The issue has reportedly been fixed as of early November. Change #2: Google…
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