Hi there,

For Popular Picks Part Deux, Red Cardinal asked for a "better explanation of Sitelinks - in particular what happens if they are blocked by a user." http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help-Indexing/browse_thread/thread/e213eec10610a481/f968695a7cac467d?#f968695a7cac467d

Thanks for your suggestion, Richard! (Our response is written below. :) Everyone, please let us know if we can provide clarification.

Take care, and have a super week! Maile

Sitelinks are created algorithmically to help users quickly navigate to the information they need on your site. To display sitelinks, Google must basically determine: 1) a relevant structure for your site conducive to sitelinks, and 2) that sitelinks will be helpful for the user's query.

For your verified site in Webmaster Tools, you can view your available sitelinks. If you choose to block a sitelink, it will then appear in Webmaster Tools as blocked. Once the change becomes effective, the blocked sitelink will not appear in search results. You will not immediately see a new sitelink listed in Webmaster Tools to replace your blocked sitelink.

For example, let's say you have 8 sitelinks in Webmaster Tools. If you choose to block a sitelink, it will be removed from your "Current sitelinks" section and added to the "Blocked sitelinks" section. The blocked sitelink will not appear in search results for 90 days, and it can be unblocked at any time. (It does, however, take a bit of time for the blocked/unblocked change to take effect.) Every time you visit the Sitelinks page in Webmaster Tools, whether or not you modify your Sitelinks settings, the blocked sitelinks will renew their blocked time for an additional 90 days.

In search results, the sitelinks displayed are determined algorithmically based on the user's query. So, while Webmaster Tools may show 8 sitelinks for your verified site, it's possible that search results show only a subset (e.g. search results display 4 sitelinks). Furthermore, the sitelinks displayed in search results can vary according to the query (e.g. different combinations of sitelinks for different queries).

Common questions Can I trigger new sitelinks to appear in Webmaster Tools? New sitelinks appear in Webmaster Tools when a general sitelink update occurs. Updates (i.e. new sitelinks in search results and/or Webmaster Tools) are not affected by your blocking or unblocking sitelinks. New sitelinks cannot be triggered manually.

How can I get sitelinks to appear for my site in search results? Your site must have at least 3 unblocked sitelinks in order for your sitelinks to appear in search results. Therefore:

1. If you block sitelinks in Webmaster Tools and leave fewer than 3 remaining, no sitelinks will appear for your site in search results.

2. If you have fewer than 3 sitelinks algorithmically generated for your site, you will not see a sitelink options in Webmaster Tools.

Sitelinks are calculated algorithmically. Having a crawlable, intuitive architecture is helpful in generating sitelinks. Also, creating compelling, unique content or providing a useful service (thus making your site highly relevant to user queries) can increase the probability of sitelink generation -- and thus your site