Google seems to be including in-page navigation links within their SERPs, most likely as part of their strategy to show the user as much info as possible about the destination page before they click through. We’ve seen this strategy in action with the site search box that is added below the SERP entry. John Andrew’s article is a must-read on this topic.

[Search for "wp_list_pages" - one of the functions of WordPress]

[Search for "limitations of google analytics" - spotted by TalentGurus]

[Search for "html anchors" brings up w3.org]

In all cases Google is picking up the internal in-page navigation (HTML anchors) and pulling it into the SERPs. All site examples here are large, popular sites so this feature, as with site search box, maybe reserved for such cases. However this is definitely something to experiment with. In-page navigation is a bonus for usability so this could be a win-win tactic.

Also worth noting that Google has recently been experimenting with Breadcrumb navigation in their SERPs too.

Update: This new feature is explained over at the Google WebmasterBlog by Raj Krishnan (Snippets Team).

There are a few things you can do to increase the chances that [these links] might appear on your pages. First, ensure that long, multi-topic pages on your site are well-structured and broken into distinct logical sections. Second, ensure that each section has an associated anchor with a descriptive name (i.e., not just “Section 2.1″), and that your page includes a “table of contents” which links to the individual anchors.

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Technorati Tags: Google, SEO, SERPs, Snippets

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