Google is now displaying some sitelinks in the old syle – multiple links on the same line, but with fewer displayed. There are also cases of more than one domain getting site links.
One example is restaurant supply (this is also returning local results for me based on IP address).
Google Sitelinks - restaurant supply
The query I found amusing is for books. Notice this shows the newer style links, two columns and more SERP real estate for the top result. The secondary result gets the truncated sitelinks. Coincidentally, Google gives the top spot to Google. I’m sure with enough searching you could find similar presentation that does not favor a Google property.
Good test to see if the change prompts users to click the 2nd and 3rd organic results more.
I personally feel that the old style of site links takes so much traffic away from the other organic results. Nice research Matt.
John,
I think this change will be beneficial overall to the sites that have them.
It is one more data point to infer how much Google “likes you”. If your most important keywords have these links, you’ll probably see fairly stable rankings for them.
– Matt