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When you’re Googling, do you ever wish that you knew which sites you’d visited? Well, Google might be adding something that helps with that.
As Google puts it “Sitelinks are links from the same domain that are clustered together under a web result.” In other words, Google can link together site structures to provide users with shortcuts. This style of linking saves both time and makes for a more streamlined search.
These sitelinks are already helpful for users but why not make it better? Well Google has done just that.
Google Sitelinks
Google appears to be testing a new icon feature for sitelinks. Its pretty similar to the icon that you’ll see when you go to type in search. The dropdown on search shows a clock, listing all the previously searched terms.
Google is trying out similar icons for sitelinks. Basically, it’s supposed to make searching easier and lets you know which pages on a site that you’ve already visited.
Chatter on Twitter
Some SEO experts have noticed this trial icon in Google Search and have taken the discussion to Twitter.
SEO experts Greg Bernhardt and Mordy Oberstein discussed the icon test over a thread on Twitter. Though Mordy Oberstein noticed the test first, Greg Bernhardt raised an interesting point about the sitelinks.
It’s interesting that the visited link changes color, yet is being tested with the icon. Here’s The discussion between Oberstein and Berhardt online.
Does the “visited link” color rely on browser history and the icon does not? — Greg Bernhardt 🐍🌊 (@GregBernhardt4) October 7, 2022
Previous Testing with Sitelinks
This isn’t the first time that Google’s played around with sitelink icons. From testing with images to other icons, Google is always trying to add something new here.
In 2017 many noticed the auto-generated sitelink icons. Here’s what digital marketing specialist Josh Leibner has to say.
Google testing new mobile sitelink format w/ auto-added icons – has this been seen already? @GinnyMarvin @sengineland #ppcchat pic.twitter.com/Vprmd3s16H — Josh Leibner (@JoshLeibner) March 15, 2017
Considering, Google is only testing these icons for the time being and we have yet to hear an official statement about these icons being fully added to Google Search.
