Google now supports Site names across all languages after launching it initially for English, French, German, and Japanese languages only. Google wrote, “Today, we’re happy to announce that site names are now available in all languages where Google Search is available, on both mobile and desktop.”
Site names. Site names are the title and name of the site Google shows in the search results listings. “When Google lists a page in search results, it shows the name of the site the page comes from,” Google explained.
What it looks like. Here is where the site name shows in the search result snippet:
All language support. With this update, Site names no longer just work in English, French, German, and Japanese languages but now work across all languages.
Site names are also supported for domains (for example, example.com) and subdomains (for example, subdomain.example.com) but not for subdirectories (for example, example.com/subdirectory), Google explained. That actually happened in May 2023.
Site names timeline. Here is the timeline Google posted of the evolution of site names since it launched in October:
- October 2022: Site names for the domain level were introduced for mobile search results for English, French, German and Japanese.
- April 2023 (I have this as March): Site names were added for desktop for the same set of languages.
- May 2023: Site names are now supported on the subdomain level for the same set of languages and on mobile search results only.
- July 2023: Site names was improved to be more accurate with better documentation and supported workarounds.
- September 2023: Site names now work in all languages for all regions.
Controlling site names. Google back in October explained that Google Search uses a number of ways to identify the site name for the search result. But if you want, you can use structured data on your home page to communicate to Google what the site name should be for your site. Google has specific documentation on this new Site name structured data available over here.
Upgrading the favicon. Google also recommended revisiting the documentation for favicons for the latest best practices. Google is now also suggesting you provide an icon that’s at least 48 pixels and follows the existing favicon guidelines.
Ads. This is also rolled out to the Google search ads on desktop, so the size of the site name, favicons, and also the ad label will be more prominent in mobile search. In fact, Google rolled out the “Sponsored” label in mobile search last October and today on desktop, officially replacing the “Ads” label from January 2020.
Why we care. Google has made several improvements to how it selects and shows your site name in the Google Search results. If Google is still getting it wrong and you are following the documentation, then maybe try some of those new workarounds to get your site name showing exactly how you want it in Google Search.
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