Google has confirmed that the change won’t be listed in the Search status dashboard, indicating that it’s not considered a significant algorithmic update.
Search Console & Rich Results Test
Following the removal of the sitelinks search box, Google plans to update the following tools:
The Search Console rich results report for sitelinks search box will be removed.
The Rich Results Test will no longer highlight the related markup.
Structured Data Considerations
While you can remove the sitelinks search box structured data from their sites, Google says that’s unnecessary.
Unsupported structured data won’t cause issues in Search or trigger errors in Search Console reports.
It’s worth noting that the ‘WebSite’ structured data, also used for site names, continues to be supported.
Historical Context
The sitelinks search box was initially announced in September 2014 as an improvement to help users find specific website content more easily.
It supported features like autocomplete and allowed websites to implement schema markup for better integration with their own search pages.
Looking Ahead
Website owners and SEO professionals should take note of this update, though no immediate action is required.
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