The search giant Google announced that they've begun replacing the URL within their search result snippet area with the representing site's name and its breadcrumb path. This update initially impacts mobile Google users only.
Google's algorithms change once in a while, and when they do, they change for the better goods. On April 16th, 2015, Google updated the "algorithms that display URLs in the search results to better reflect the names of websites, using the real-world name of the site instead of the domain name, and the URL structure of the sites in a breadcrumbs-like format."
Before releasing it to public, the search giant has been testing it for a few years.
As part of this launch, Google also introduced support for schema.org structured data for websites to signal to its algorithms:
- The website name to be used instead of the domain name.
- The URL structure of the URL as breadcrumbs.
Google's Developers explained structured data and how people can put their site's name in search results, as well as explaining how breadcrumbs work.
Well-structured URLs can give users a quick hint about a specific page's topic, and how the page fits within the website they want to visit.
The update actually put a better use of the little extra markups that webmasters and web owners can add to their source code in order to communicate the variables to Google.
Starting in the U.S., the changes are rolling out gradually to other countries.
Mobile First, Others Later
Google Search is influential and popular, and for that Google is always developing new ways to keep up with the growing trends. As mobile is becoming more integrated in people's lives, there is no doubt that the search giant is putting a priority to that type of users.
Google's changes can shift millions of people's way in finding information that are relevant to them. Revising its algorithms to meet mobile users more than before means that mobile-friendly websites are expected to see better ranking and/or better exposure on Google's search results.
As Google appreciates mobile-friendly websites more than before, websites that don't fit the description will be demoted to mobile users. This can have significant visitors and revenue drop for websites that aren't yet optimized for mobile screens.
When mobile users are browsing the web, they're actually getting more mobile-friendly websites at the very top of Google. People are not necessarily going to see the same results when they browse the same search result on laptop or desktop computer.
