Google’s ongoing campaign for a better mobile experience continues.
On Thursday last week, Google announced that URLs will start featuring “better presentation” structure in mobile search results. Their algorithms will now display URLs to “better reflect the names of websites.” The new URL structure will feature a “breadcrumbs-like” format, which shows the link trail of a website’s hierarchy in a crisp, easy-to-read line. This format will also display the website’s name instead of its domain name.
“Better presentation.” “Better reflect.” These terms make the update sound like little more than a cosmetic update, a makeover for the ugly URLs currently showing up in Google’s and other search engines’ mobile search results.
But, as with all things Google, we know that isn’t the full story.
See the Fresh, New Look for Mobile Search Results
While this latest update may seem like it has little impact on the day-to-day of SEO, remember: this is Google we’re talking about. These changes to both URLs and mobile search results feeds right into Google’s all-in approach to a better user experience. The timing is good too, as Google has been revealing more and more about the forthcoming “Mobilegeddon” that has the online business world holding its breath.
(Image credit: Google Webmaster Central blog)
In short, a Google mobile search will start showing cleaner, sleeker mobile search results for users. The update won’t come into effect all at once; it will roll out gradually, and only for US sites for now. So if you wake up one morning and say, “Hey, my search results already show the changes!” then you’ll know you have one of the many sites that have already started showing the new and improved look in their mobile search results.
But that was not everything Google had to share with us in this most recent update…
It’s All in the Schema
Lately, when it comes to mobile search results Google has been pretty transparent in telling us what to expect. This update is no different—the second part of Google’s update has to do with how schema will have a part to play in the future.
Adding schema markup data to a page lets you help the search engines understand the page’s relevant information, leading to better and more useful search results.
In regards to this latest update, Google will let you add your website’s name and the structure for your page’s URLs into your schema data markup. This will allow your desired format to be indexed by Google, letting everyone see the same online results for mobile devices across all platforms.
As of now, both schema and the new breadcrumb URL search structure will have little-to-no impact on your website’s rankings. However, these do contribute to making your site easier to find and read. Which has been Google’s primary goal for a while now.
And while you’re at it, give SEO Inc. a call. If you’re looking to add your website name and URLs to your schema (because you absolutely should), we’ll be happy to provide our SEO services for you.
