{"id":21861,"date":"2024-10-23T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T01:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandligo.com\/?p=21861"},"modified":"2026-09-03T17:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T12:18:52","slug":"google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/","title":{"rendered":"Google to Discontinue Sitelinks Search Box in November"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google<\/a> has announced the retirement of the sitelinks search box feature, effective November 21, ending a tool that\u2019s been part of Google Search for over a decade. Introduced in 2014, the sitelinks search box allowed users to perform site-specific searches directly from Google\u2019s search results, typically appearing above the sitelinks for certain websites when searching by name.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_87 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">In This Article<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Declining_Usage\" >Declining Usage<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Potential_Impact\" >Potential Impact<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Implementation\" >Implementation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Search_Console_Rich_Results_Test\" >Search Console &amp; Rich Results Test<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Structured_Data_Considerations\" >Structured Data Considerations<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Historical_Context\" >Historical Context<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/google-to-discontinue-sitelinks-search-box-in-november\/#Summery\" >Summery<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Declining_Usage\"><\/span>Declining Usage<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google cites a drop in usage as the reason behind this decision, stating:<br \/>\n\u201cOver time, we\u2019ve noticed that usage has dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Potential_Impact\"><\/span>Potential Impact<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The removal of the sitelinks search box will not impact search rankings or the display of other sitelinks. This change is purely visual and doesn\u2019t affect a site\u2019s position in search results.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Implementation\"><\/span>Implementation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>This update will roll out globally, affecting search results across all languages and countries. Google confirms that the change won\u2019t be reflected in the Search status dashboard, as it isn\u2019t considered a significant algorithmic update.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Search_Console_Rich_Results_Test\"><\/span>Search Console &amp; Rich Results Test<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>After the sitelinks search box is removed, Google will update these tools:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Search Console rich results report for sitelinks search box will be discontinued.<\/li>\n<li>The Rich Results Test will no longer highlight the related markup.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Structured_Data_Considerations\"><\/span>Structured Data Considerations<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Although you can remove the sitelinks search box structured data from your site, Google says this is unnecessary. Unsupported structured data won\u2019t cause issues in Search or trigger errors in Search Console reports.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Historical_Context\"><\/span>Historical Context<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Launched in September 2014, the sitelinks search box was designed to help users find specific content on a website more easily, offering autocomplete and schema markup integration for better site search functionality.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summery\"><\/span>Summery<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google will retire the sitelinks search box on November 21 due to declining usage. Introduced in 2014, the feature allowed site-specific searches from Google\u2019s results page. Its removal will not impact search rankings or other sitelinks. Google will update the Search Console and Rich Results Test, but removing structured data is unnecessary. The change is purely visual and global.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google has announced the retirement of the sitelinks search box feature, effective November 21, ending a tool that\u2019s been part of Google Search for over a decade. Introduced&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":21865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1713],"tags":[4351,4346,4343,4349,4341,521,4352,4348,4342,4336,4338,4345,4337,4340,4347,4353,4350,4335,4339,4344],"class_list":["post-21861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technews","tag-algorithm-update","tag-autocomplete","tag-declining-usage","tag-feature-removal","tag-global-update","tag-google","tag-google-search","tag-no-impact-on-rankings","tag-november-21","tag-retirement","tag-rich-results-test","tag-schema-markup","tag-search-console","tag-search-rankings","tag-search-results","tag-search-tools","tag-site-specific-search","tag-sitelinks-search-box","tag-structured-data","tag-visual-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21861"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39038,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21861\/revisions\/39038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brandligo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}