What are those “extra links” below the Google #1 rank of SERP’s?!
I saw an interesting article on WebProNews yesterday. When searching for a phrase ‘hookah’ from Google.com you would get the usual SERP, right. Just by glanzing the first SERP you wouldn’t probably notice anything out of an ordinary. However, if you did look at the #1 search result more carefully you might have spotted those extra links that have been there for little while now. At first when I saw them I thought: What are those extra links? How could we get one for our #1 SERP rank? Do we have to pay for them?
First, I asked from my friend at Google if he could tell me what these links where. Well, you know the answer: “mmmphf, well, uhh..” Then, I bowed and thanked him for his helpful information. I thought what is the best place to find “scientific information”… forums! I went online to browse some forums in order to see what other people have said or thought these links. Below I have listed some reasons that appeared:
1. Some say it may have happened due to a Froogle Account they have.
2. The usual conspiracy theory was explained: “They must have someone inside Google, who is tweaking the results.”
3. Someone wondered if it was money that has given them those two links.
4. Google testing new features was someone’s guess, as well.
5. Based on Anchor text and several inbound links. (Not true. Page Rank: 4, Google links: 32, Yahoo! links: 454.)
My vote goes to those who think the links are there for test purposes only. Whatever the case is, I am sure that we will hear of this pretty soon from Google them selves.
I started also thinking about those links from a conversion point. How much would an extra link like that effect on conversion? Would most of the visitor think that as a good thing or a bad thing? Is there too many options for clicking the link? Do people buy more often if they click on those extra links? Are people switched to conversion mode if they click on an extra link? I would like to study those links from that angle. Till next time… Ahar!
-Black Jack Vane-
