Why is Google Showing my Blocked Sitelinks?
| Manoj Jasra - Wednesday, October 14, 2009 6 Comments |
According to Google, Sitelinks are links to a site's interior pages. Not all sites have Sitelinks. Google generates these links automatically, but you can remove Sitelinks you don't want.
To re-state the definition above: In Google Webmaster tools you have the ability to block Sitelinks that you don't want highlighted. I was under the impression that blocking in Webmaster tools worked, however for the last 2.5 months Google has consistently shown Sitelinks which contain very old archives that I have purposely blocked in my Webmaster tools setup.
Labels: Google
Maybe it's a bit like removing URLs in Webmaster Tools: only valid if the URL is made non-indexable. Why don't you block them with robots.txt? Blog Archive pages dilute SERPs anyway, so they're best left out of Google altogether - I would think.
Well, I think Manoj don't want to block these sites from indexing or crawling. Just is not happy to emphasize them in search results.
Your screenshot shows "Effective until Aug 28, 2009". Then in the Help Center (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334): "Once you've blocked a sitelink, it won't appear in the Google search results for 90 days. This period will be extended every time you visit the Sitelinks page on Webmaster Tools."
There may lie the answer, this seems to be by purposeful design. Why Google chose this (as opposed to Removed URLs which are permanent), I have no idea.
There is a 90 day time frame (which is a little long if you ask me) where Google will evaluate the sitelinks. A little tip, consider modifying your top or main navigation slightly as Google may in fact replace your old sitelinks with links from your main navigation (as these typically generate a high number of clicks on a site.)
Thanks Guys,
The issue I have is that these links have been blocked for almost a year and a half, yet from July forward the old sitelinks are back. Google has so many more authoritative links from my blog to choose from - so why the archive links from 2006.
Try pulling the monthly archives from the sidebar. That should do it longer-term.