Google has announced a small, but nonetheless very interesting change to the way it displays website URLs in mobile search results.
Specifically, search results will display the actual name of a website instead of the URL, along with what Google calls a “breadcrumb-like format” for URL structure. From Google’s statement:
“Well-structured URLs give users a quick hint about what the page is about and how the page fits within the website. To help mobile searchers better understand your website when it appears in mobile search results, we’ve updated the algorithms that display URLs in search results to better reflect website names, using the actual site name instead of the domain name, and the URL structure from sites has been formed into a breadcrumb-like format.”
You can see an example of this in the photo above. The green text in search results now shows a progressive list of parts for the URL structure rather than the full URL itself.
Additionally, Google announced that it will introduce support for schema.org structured data for websites to indicate algorithms and how the replacement of website names and URL structures should be handled.
As Google notes, the changes will contribute to the growth of mobile searches gradually, while the changes to the website name are currently only available in the US.
