Google Enhances URL Display in Mobile Search Results

Finally, Google is finally coming around! After years of testing, the search engine giant has finally replaced website URL with the site name and breadcrumb trail in the mobile search snippets.

According to the official Google announcement, Google is making this change “to help mobile searchers understand your website better when they show it in the mobile search results.” Instead of displaying a website URL such as www.smallscreenproducer.com in search results for example, algorithms will display the website’s name or real-world name instead (i.e. Small Screen Producer).

“Today we’re updating 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.”

Google mentions in the official blog post that, “well-structured URLs offer users a quick hint of the page topic and how the page fits within the website.” The new update will make it easier for webmasters to communicate to users what types content can be found on their site. At the same time, the update will make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for in mobile search results.

It’s a small change, but the new structure will help both searcher and webmaster in the long run. Here’s what it looks like before and after. You can see a big difference it makes! Google mentioned that the changes are gradually rolling out and will only affect mobile search results. The site name update is U.S. now and breadcrumbs are rolling out worldwide.

Credit: Google.com