Announcement: My Blog Just Got Google Sitelinks

Upon searching google for my site today, I found out that Google has bestowed my blog the much coveted (at least for me) sitelinks.

 

I actually didn’t know what those sub-links under the main site link are called, but I regularly see them for popular blogs, and I’ve always wondered how to get them.

They’re sitelinks – how did I even get them? Does that mean Google loves me?

 

Actually, I didn’t know how I got them. Google just awards you with these according to its own secret algorithm or criteria. Apparently, you can’t ask for them. You also don’t need to ask for them to get them.

Also, these sitelinks appear depending on what you type on the search bar. If I type the more specific thefinancemd, the sitelinks appear. If I type only financemd, the sitelinks don’t show up because I don’t rank no. 1. The sitelinks only appear if your site is numero uno on search.

How do I do with Google search anyways? Typing  the following terms gets me these Google search results (as of this posting – I have not posted in a while, so things can improve)

• thefinancemd – top search result with sitelinks, yay!
• financemd – page 1, but not top result; again, you only get sitelinks if you’re on top
• the finance doctor – page 1, but not top result
• finance doctor – page 3
• finance md – in the wilderness of page 10
• finance – didn’t even bother

 

What are the benefits of getting sitelinks?

According to a variety of sources (here, here, here), these are the benefits:

• It makes your site more credible and reputable
• It gives you a bigger space in the search engine result page (SERP), because of all the added sublinks
• It increases click through rate (CTR), probably since sitelinks are just too hard to resist
• It drives traffic to internal pages – specifically to the sitelinks, but apparently you won’t be able to control what appears as sidelinks. My most popular posts don’t even appear in the sublinks

 

How did get these sitelinks?

According to the same three sources I cited above, here is probably what helped me get awarded with sitelinks

• My blog has a distinguishable title. Sure there are many sites for “finance doctor” but thefinancemd is pretty much my blog.
• I try to write posts with informative and useful content. I don’t post just for the sake of posting. I only post when I have something lengthy to say. You’ll notice my mini-vacations in between posts.
• Some people actually read my blog, and they find it through search. Most of my views come from search engines. Traffic gets you the sitelinks.
• My site is easy to navigate. Thanks wordpress free theme!
• I do internal linking. Some of my posts are related to previous ones so I link to those. That apparently helps. In fact, I am going to internal link right now, to the post when my blog first reached readers from 100 countries – my blog’s recent important milestone.

 

It’s always a challenge for bloggers like me to find the motivation to keep going, especially in this age where blogging is presumed to be dying.

The awarding of these Google sitelinks will help me stay on the blogging path.

 

Thanks Google!

 

– finance MD, thefinancemd.com