: What are the most important things I need to do to encourage Google Sitelinks? My website used to have sitelinks and now it doesn't. It's very possible that it's due to changing the website

@Samaraweera270

Google Search Console Help - Sitelinks: support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334

Demote a sitelink URL:


On the Search Console Home page (formerly "Webmaster Tools"), click the site you want.
Under Search Appearence, click Site Links.
In the For this search result box, complete the URL for which you don't want a specific sitelink URL to appear.
In the Demote this sitelink URL box, complete the URL of the sitelink you want to demote.

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@Angie530

You may also maintain a footer that is rich in (text) links; make sure you use good labels. You can think of the footer as a subset of your complete sitemap. This might suggest Google that those links / contents are quite important since they are repeated across the site (assuming all pages have the same footer).

Removal of sitelinks is more straightforward: you can do it via the Google Webmaster Tools.

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@Cugini213

Excerpt from Googler Maile Ohye's explanation on Sitelinks in Google Webmaster Help -


Sitelinks are often produced when
there's a high probability that the
site is the top match for the user's
query. In other words, to have
sitelinks ... you'll probably need to
be the definitive first result


Sitelinks are completely automated & based on Google's algorithms. To get Sitelinks for a site it helps to have a well-structured website.

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@Bryan171

You will need to have quite a bit of traffic to your site to get those. Keep creating great content. Google will not give those out easy.

Be sure that you have your navigation marked up with semantic HTML and include an id of nav or navigation on your menu. This will help Google know what links are your navigation. (as opposed to a list of links).

Also, once you get them Google will give you an option to control what links you want in your sitelinks via Google Webmaster Tools.

There is no easy way or publicly know algorithm that will give you sitelinks. And I'm sure that algorithm changes all the time.

DO NOTS:


Don't use JavaScript For links and menus.
Don't think about it too much and give it time, sitelinks are rare.

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@Sent6035632

Sitelinks are usually taken from the home page. Make sure Google is able to see those links; if your website used heavy JavaScript to construct the DOM it's possible that Google simply doesn't see any link.

To see if this is the case open your website with a command line (no GUI) web browser, such as links (Linux). Alternatively, try to disable JavaScript in your own browser.

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