One SERP Result, Two Different Link Destinations?
-
Because my vocabulary isn't up to par, it may be easier for you to skip ahead to the image I've attached.
One of my web pages shows up in the Google SERP like this. It has the blue "title" link that goes to one page (URL A), and under that, there is a green "breadcrumb" link that goes to a different page (URL B).
Any idea why this is happening and how it can be fixed?
Thanks in advance,
Benjamin
-
I was only using the same example! I don't even know what green Nalgene is! (Sounds like a cleaning product to me!)
The only thing you can do is be aware of google's actions and do what you can to make the best of it!
Good luck!
-
Thanks, Doug, but I only meant that as an example (there's a green Nalgene bottle on my desk).
I guess what I was asking is whether or not breadcrumbs should show the category at hand and not just the category that precedes it. Looks to me like Google is voting yes.
Anyway, I think I'll call this question "answered." Thanks again for your help!
-
I'd go with making your categories/subcategories as meaningful as possible to real people.
When the breadcrumbs are displayed it can potentially provide searchers with more context (hey, these guys do all kinds of bottles!) so may be more appealing and may give the searcher more confidence...
(If the result isn't exactly what I was looking for, but your breadcrumb suggests you might have more on offer...)
In the real world I'm not sure how much impact this actually has on your average searcher...
So best practice - try and keep your categories short and meaningful and don't create more categories than you need.
I wouldn't worry about going as granular as "green!"
-
That makes sense. The breadcrumbs on the website do not show the current page. They only provide a link to the previous page.
For example, if the page was for "Green Nalgene Bottles" and it was a subcategory of home --> water bottles --> Nalgene, the breadcrumb would read "home > water bottles > Nalgene." It sounds like it should read "home > water bottles > Nalgene > green."
Obviously, that's confusing Google. Is it against best practices in general?
-
Aha! These are your breadcrumb links. Normally the URL isn't clickable, but in some cases Google will extract the breadcrumb from your page and present it under the title. (Check the breadcrumb of the ranking page and see if it matches)
They've been doing this for a while. See this article from 2009:
http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/new-site-hierarchies-display-in-search.html
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Sudden increase in backlinks with "Link Reclamation": Any risk from Google?
Hi all, We failed to redirect the links of our old website versions to new website pages for years and we are planning to now redirect all those old links to new in the process of link reclamation. This activity may increase the back links suddenly or steadily. If there is sudden increase in backlinks, will it hurts us? What's Google's stand? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz1 -
Question regarding very unique SERP -
Hi guys, I have been brainstorming regarding a very unique SERP that i figured out while navigating search, the serp looks some thing like this http://postimg.org/image/phkol0d97/. i checked the site in structured testing tool but the only thing that i found is some PMR meta tags nothing except that. Can any one help me understand this and i would be more helpful if some one can guide me for the same. #peace
Algorithm Updates | | prashanth1230 -
Super Awesome SERPs
Okay, anyone else notice the resent UI launch in the Google SERPs? I was planning a trip to visit a friend in Dayton, Ohio and used the query "things to do in dayton oh" and i got a really neat points of interest bar and city stats. Anyone notice anything else neat with the UI change? Seems like some good stuff for local possibly. example-serp.png
Algorithm Updates | | kchandler0 -
Do practitioner listings for the same business need to have different categories?
I'm trying to figure out an issue with practitioner listings, and I wanted to ask more about this because in this Q&A thread ( http://www.seomoz.org/q/multiple-businesses-at-the-same-address-avoiding-google-places-trouble ) it was stated that each listing needs to have a different category. Sorry if this question is redundant, I just wanted to make sure I have a clear understanding before proceeding.... I'm managing local listings for a senior healthcare center that has 4 locations, and multiple practitioners at each location. I'm trying to figure out how to best handle the multiple practitioner listings, most of which appear to be scraped. I was going to claim, verify and begin managing them. However, they all fall under the same category, "practitioner." What I've gathered from the response in the above Q&A thread is that I need to have a different category for each practitioner to please Google Places, despite the fact that "practitioner" is the best/most accurate category available in Google's pre-set categories. Is my interpretation correct? I'm confused because Google's guidelines say you can create a separate listing for each practitioner, which to me implies that it would be ok to use the practitioner category for each one. But then again, I want to make sure before proceeding. Thanks, Kim
Algorithm Updates | | TECHSEO35
#TECHSEO Account Manager0 -
Too Many Non-Niche-Specific Links?
Something just occurred to me today. I work in-house for an embroidered patch company, but I respond to a lot of HARO queries about Marketing, SEO, SEM, Web Design, ect. So, we have a lot of links from these types of sites. Additionally, I have done guest blogs on these topics because those are what I'm knowledgeable about. We also have links from customers' personal blogs or websites stating they got their patches from us and are happy, blah, blah, blah. On top of that, we hired someone who ended up getting tons of .edu links by spamming blogs. Oy. I'd estimate only about 10% of our links come from embroidery, sewing, screen printing, promotional products, etc types of sites. I guess it's not really known or documented how much weight Google places on niche-specific links--we just assume that it matters, and I'm sure it does. Our rankings are fine now, but I'm looking for some opinions from other SEOs about how much they think this will matter in the future or how much it matters now. Could this hurt us in the future? .
Algorithm Updates | | UnderRugSwept0 -
How important are links after Panda
I have noticed that the sites in my niche that were at the top of the SERP's are still at the top of the SERP's after panda. I have also heard people theorizing that links are no longer important, its now all about bounce rates, time on site, etc. Is there any consensus about how important links are after Panda? thx Paul
Algorithm Updates | | diogenes1 -
Google SERP UI in December
For retailers (or commercial queries), it seems like PPC ads, product ads and google shopping links were allocated more pixel real estate in December than in previous years, and the amount of pixel real estate allocated to organic listings declined further. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on when these changes were rolled out.
Algorithm Updates | | enoch0 -
Gifts.com - Multiple domain pages in SERPs
One of our big natural search competitors for gift keywords is Gifts.com. We are competing for many keywords like "teen gifts", "gifts for him", "gifts for her". For many of these, the Google SERP has multiple Gifts.com pages on the first page. I have never seen more than one of our pages (uncommongoods.com) on a SERP page. Any clue how/why Gifts.com has multiple pages in search results ? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | znotes0