We’ve noticed Google tweaking the way sitelinks work more and more over the past few weeks. The latest update seems to be that they’re adding the number of comments to some sitelinks:
This example is interesting because the first link really does have 367 comments which is quite a coincidence if Google were tracking something else. The other numbers however don’t match up with the number of comments on the page.
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Comments
Read the 8 comments below, or add your own!
I suspect this is a mistake. If Google were going to do this, they’d make the number follow directly on from the link, rather than use the usual second column of site links. Also, notice that the right hand links go to totally different pages to those on the left. I think this is a crawling error.
I haven’t seen this myself yet – I like the direction of it though giving potential visitors an insight into where the really juicy blog posts are on any individual site.
I wonder how reactive the comment numbers are to fresh comments being applied to a specific post? Is this why there is a difference in real-time to the numbers listed in the SERPS?
It probably matches the number of comments at the time of the last crawl. Google has also started to show the number of posts for forums threads showing in the serps.
The number the comments appearing for every post listed on sitelinks is depending by last visit the Google spider visits your blog.
i dont know why google include the number of comments in the indexed page, does it look weird and do you think this bring benefit to the searcher?
I wonder how this will affect people and how they see their searches. Be interesting to see a study noting the effects this has on people psychologically when choosing search results.
Interesting post… thanks for the info!
It’s good to know what google is up to! they can make you more money if you do!
Have a great day! Go state!
This is extremely interesting! I am going to keep my eye on this and check any updates! Keep us informed mate!
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March 27, 2009 at 4:04pm
March 27, 2009 at 10:02pm
March 28, 2009 at 2:18am
March 29, 2009 at 11:13am