Google withdraws the “Sitelinks Search Box” from November 21, 2024
The online search giant, Google, has decided to withdraw the “Sitelinks Search Box” from November 21, 2024. This functionality, present for more than ten years, allowed users to search directly on a site from Google results. Despite its usefulness, its use has declined significantly over the years, leading Google to remove this option.
No impact on SEO ranking
It is important to note that this removal will have no impact on the ranking of sites in search results. Site owners and SEO professionals therefore do not need to remove the corresponding markup from their sites. This decision affects all countries and languages, and will cause the Rich Results report to disappear from Search Console.
Why this decision?
Google has decided to simplify its results pages by removing visual elements that are no longer widely used by Internet users. The Sitelinks Search Box is one of those features that has become almost invisible to users. Although some still found this option useful, the majority no longer used it. Google has therefore chosen to leave room for new innovations, without affecting the ranking of sites.
No urgency to act
For site owners, there are no big changes to expect. There is no need to remove Sitelinks Search Box markup from your site, as this will not have a negative impact in Search Console. It’s also worth noting that the rich results report for this feature will disappear from Search Console, but WebSite markup remains supported and continues to be useful for improving visibility in search results.
An opportunity to improve the user experience
This change is an opportunity for site owners to think about other ways to improve the user experience on their site. It is essential to make navigation more fluid and intuitive, so that users can easily find what they are looking for. Despite the disappearance of the Sitelinks Search Box, other sitelinks remain unchanged, offering users the ability to navigate directly to key pages.
