Google Search rolls out site name updates and workarounds

Google has released some really needed updates to its site names feature in Google Search. Site names are now supported on subdomains on all devices in English, French, German, and Japanese languages. Google also made other improvements and added workarounds when Google gets your site name wrong, Google announced.

Site names. Site names is the title and name of the site Google shows in the search results listings. “When Google lists a page in search results, it shows the name of the site the page comes from,” Google explained.

Subdomain support expanded. Google added support for site names with subdomains on mobile devices only, for English, French, German, and Japanese. Now it also works for all devices, not just subdomains.

Here is an example from Google’s own site.

Alphabet Inc.

Updated guidance. Google also updated its guidance on how to communicate your preferred site name to Google Search. Google wrote, “As a reminder, the best way to indicate a preferred site name to Google is to make use of WebSite structured data, as explained on our site name documentation.”

Also, Google now encourages more use of the alternateName property when sometimes a preferred site name isn’t available for your site.

Workarounds for site names. Google also listed a few workarounds for when the preferred or alternative names are not selected by Google Search. Google posted new workarounds in its help documentation that lists these workarounds:

  • First, try providing an alternative name using the alternateName property. If our site name system isn’t confident enough to use your preferred name, it strongly considers this option.
  • Provide your domain or subdomain name as a backup option. To provide your domain or subdomain as a backup option, add your domain or subdomain name as your alternative name. Your domain or subdomain needs to be in all lowercase (for example, example.com not Example.com) for our system to detect this as a site name preference. Our system will strongly consider using it if your preferred name isn’t selected. In this example, Burnt Toast is the most preferred option, followed by BT, and ending with the domain example.com as the final name preference.
  • If that’s still not working, then try providing your domain or subdomain name (in all lowercase) as your preferred name, as a last-resort workaround option. If you provide your domain or subdomain name as your preferred name, our system will generally select that (but we recommend only doing this as a last resort). In this example, the only preference is the domain example.com.

Need support. Having issues with your site name? Google posted a support thread in the Google support forums over here, including more FAQs.

We saw some issues with site names, some of which Google resolved. This should resolve more of those issues. In fact, I did capture some before and after examples and posted them this morning on the Search Engine Roundtable.

What it looks like. Here is where the site name shows in the search result snippet:

Site Name 800x251

Site names timeline. Here is the timeline Google posted of the evolution of site names since it launched in October:

  • October 2022: Site names for the domain level were introduced for mobile search results for English, French, German and Japanese.
  • April 2023 (I have this as March): Site names were added for desktop for the same set of languages.
  • May 2023: Site names are now supported on the subdomain level for the same set of languages and on mobile search results only.

Controlling site names. Google back in October explained that Google Search uses a number of ways to identify the site name for the search result. But if you want, you can use structured data on your home page to communicate to Google what the site name should be for your site. Google has specific documentation on this new Site name structured data available over here.

Upgrading the favicon. Google also recommended revisiting the documentation for favicons for the latest best practices. Google is now also suggesting you provide an icon that’s at least 48 pixels and follows the existing favicon guidelines.

Ads. This is also rolled out to the Google search ads on desktop, so the size of the site name, favicons, and also the ad label will be more prominent in mobile search. In fact, Google rolled out the “Sponsored” label in mobile search last October and today on desktop, officially replacing the “Ads” label from January 2020.

Why we care. Google has made several improvements to how it selects and shows your site name in the Google Search results. If Google is still getting it wrong and you are following the documentation, then maybe try some of those new workarounds to get your site name showing exactly how you want it in Google Search.

The post Google Search rolls out site name updates and workarounds appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/google-search-rolls-out-site-name-updates-and-workarounds-429979

79 thoughts on “Google Search rolls out site name updates and workarounds”

  1. Surprisingly good post. I really found your primary webpage and additionally wanted to suggest that have essentially enjoyed searching your website blog posts. Whatever the case I’ll always be subscribing to your entire supply and I hope you jot down ever again soon!

  2. of course like your web-site however you have to check the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the reality then again I will surely come back again.

  4. Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information. You have done a wonderful job!

  8. Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing several weeks of hard work due to no back up. Do you have any solutions to protect against hackers?

  18. My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on numerous websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard great things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any help would be really appreciated!

  22. A neighbor of mine encouraged me to take a look at your blog site couple weeks ago, given that we both love similar stuff and I will need to say I am quite impressed.

  26. This blog post is excellent, probably because of how well the subject was developed. I like some of the comments too though I could prefer we all stay on the subject in order add value to the subject!

  29. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.

  34. Great write-up, I am a big believer in placing comments on sites to inform the blog writers know that they’ve added something advantageous to the world wide web!

  39. I found your blog through google and I must say, this is probably one of the best well prepared articles I have come across in a long time. I have bookmarked your site for more posts.

  44. It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!

  45. I think this is among the so much vital info for me. And i’m happy reading your article. But wanna remark on few common issues, The site style is wonderful, the articles is really excellent : D. Just right job, cheers

  46. I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.

  47. Aw, this was a very nice post. In idea I wish to put in writing like this moreover taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article! I procrastinate alot and by no means seem to get something done.

  55. This is my first time i visit here. I found so many helpful stuff in your website especially its discussion. From the tons of responses on your posts, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the excellent work

  58. I loved your idea there, I tell you blogs are so exciting sometimes like looking into people’s private life’s and work. Every new remark wonderful in its own right.

  63. Amazing! Your site has quite a few comment posts. How did you get all of these bloggers to look at your site I’m envious! I’m still studying all about posting articles on the net. I’m going to view pages on your website to get a better understanding how to attract more people. Thank you!

  67. you’re in reality a just right webmaster. The web site loading velocity is incredible. It sort of feels that you’re doing any distinctive trick. In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve performed a great process on this topic!

  76. Woah this is just an insane amount of information, must of taken ages to compile so thanx so much for just sharing it with all of us. If your ever in any need of related information, just check out my own site!

  77. I encountered your site after doing a search for new contesting using Google, and decided to stick around and read more of your articles. Thanks for posting, I have your site bookmarked now.

Comments are closed.