Authority Sites Are About Branding

There is a special form of a double-listing called an authority site. Google itself does not use this terminology at all. They only refer to sitelinks. And, authority sites really only apply to keyword phrases that brand your product or company name.

Authority sites really are a misnomer. There are very few Google authority sites for generic keywords. Usually there are only authority sites for brand, or company names. Hence, a brand name site would be a more descriptive of this phenomena.

Brand Name Authority Sites

Search for just about any major brand name and in the number one position you will usually find what is often referred to as a Google authority site that takes up what appears to be up to three webpage slots.

1. The brand name authority Web site home page.
2. A a plurality of up to 8 links from the authority site.
3. A second webpage from the same authority site.

Google sitelinks are driven by their patented sitelink algorithm. While there is a lot of misinformation about this topic on the Internet, obtaining them is fairly straight forward and surprisingly easy to get.

1. The target site has to be in the number one spot of the SERPs for their brand name.
2. Web sites with a domain name that exactly matches their brand name have an advantage over sites with only a partial match.
3. The HTML title tag of their home page has to contain their brand name.
4. Up to eight links are dynamically selected based upon actual Google toolbar traffic data for the target site. But, high traffic volume is not a requirement.

Requirements for an Authority Site

In other words, the primary requirements for an authority site are:

1. An appropriate domain name.
2. Use of the Brand Name in the HTML title tag of their home page.
3. A search engine optimized home page.

Obtainment of authority site status over the usual double-listing in the #1 spot in the SERPs is usually coveted for well selected brand names. Because authority sites do a better job of focusing the attention of searchers. And, were created by Google to give searchers added value.