Google: The Sitelinks Demotion Tool Didn't Work For 6 Months Prior To Removal

Nov 4, 2016 - 7:55 am 15 by

Wrenches2 Google 1900px

As we reported a few weeks ago, Google removed the Sitelinks demotion tool from the Google Search Console.

But did you know that the tool did not work for about 6-months prior to that? So since around April 2016, if you tried to demote a sitelink using that tool - it may have not worked.

John Mueller of Google said this in this mornings webmaster hangout on YouTube at the 5:17 mark into the video. He said "the effect of this tool has been dialed down to almost nothing in the last half year or so." He added that "if you have been using this tool to kind of maintain your sitelinks, then probably we haven’t been taking the input from your submissions there into account and we have been using our algorithms anyway."

Here is the video embed:

Here is the transcript:

I guess as a bit of background with the whole sitelinks tool that we had there.

This is something that we had been experimenting with over the last couple of years and essentially the sitelinks use normal rankings. So there is nothing special around the sitelinks there.

And also the effect of this tool has been dialed down to almost nothing in the last half year or so.

So that is something where, if you have been using this tool to kind of maintain your sitelinks, then probably we haven’t been taking the input from your submissions there into account and we have been using our algorithms anyway.

So nothing really changed there, outside of us not providing a tool that doesn’t change anything in the search results.

Forum discussion at Google+.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Updates

Google Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google

Official: Google Replaces Perspective Filter With Forums Filter

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Offers Additional Review After Appeal Is Denied

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

EU Searchers Complaining About Google Maps Features Changes Related To DMA

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Showing Fewer Sitelinks Within Search

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:11 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 15, 2024

Mar 15, 2024 - 4:00 pm
Previous Story: You Can Disable Your Google AdWords Automated Ad Extensions