# Sitelinks search box

Category: [Structured Data & SERP Features](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/structured-data-serp-features/) › [Rich results & snippets](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/structured-data-serp-features/rich-results-snippets/) · Also known as: sitelinks searchbox · Historical

The **sitelinks search box** was a search field that Google could show under the result for a brand's homepage, letting people search within the site directly. Google retired the feature in November 2024.

## What applies today?

Google announced the removal on October 21, 2024, in a post titled "Farewell, Sitelinks Search Box," and stopped showing the box globally starting November 21, 2024. Google gave declining usage as the reason and stated that rankings and regular sitelinks are not affected. Some pages in the search results still describe the box as active. Those descriptions are outdated.

The box was controlled with `WebSite` markup and a `SearchAction`. Schema.org still defines `SearchAction` as an action of searching for an object, with `target` for the search URL.

To search within a site on Google, the `site:` operator works, for example `site:example.com backpack`.

## Example

```html
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebSite",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "potentialAction": {
    "@type": "SearchAction",
    "target": "https://example.com/search?q={search_term_string}",
    "query-input": "required name=search_term_string"
  }
}
</script>
```

The markup remains valid schema.org vocabulary. It no longer triggers a display in Google Search. According to Google, you can remove it but do not need to, because unsupported structured data like this causes no issues in Search and no errors in Search Console.

## Retired search features and rich results

- **September 5, 2014:** Google introduces the improved sitelinks search box. It sends queries straight to the site's own search pages. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2014/09/improved-sitelinks-search-box))
- **August 23, 2016:** Google announces it will remove the “mobile-friendly” label from mobile results, as 85% of pages already meet the criteria. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on))
- **January 21, 2020:** Google announces the end of data-vocabulary.org. Markup in this format is to lose rich result eligibility from April 6, 2020. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2020/01/data-vocabulary))
- **October 30, 2020:** Google moves the end of data-vocabulary.org support to January 29, 2021. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#october-2020))
- **November 10, 2020:** Google announces that from May 2021, non-AMP pages will also be eligible for the mobile Top Stories feature. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2020/11/timing-for-page-experience))
- **April 19, 2021:** New timing from mid-June 2021. AMP is then no longer required for Top Stories, and Google stops showing the AMP badge. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2021/04/more-details-page-experience))
- **July 18, 2023:** Google removes the related: search operator from its documentation, as it is no longer supported. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#july-2023))
- **August 8, 2023:** Google limits FAQ rich results to well-known government and health websites. How-to rich results are shown on desktop only. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/08/howto-faq-changes))
- **September 13, 2023:** How-to rich results are no longer shown on desktop either. Google calls the result type deprecated. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/08/howto-faq-changes))
- **October 13, 2023:** Google removes the host group element from its visual elements gallery, as it no longer appears in search results. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#october-2023))
- **April 17, 2024:** Google removes the guidance for the limited-access video carousel after the markup proved not useful at scale. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#removing-video-carousel-limited-access-documentation))
- **August 9, 2024:** The Notes experiment, which let users add notes to search results, has ended. Google removes its documentation. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#notes-gone))
- **September 24, 2024:** The cache: search operator no longer works. Google removes its documentation. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#cache-docs))
- **October 2, 2024:** The cached link is no longer available in search results. Google keeps noarchive only as a historical rule. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#removing-noarchive))
- **October 21, 2024:** Google announces that it will remove the sitelinks search box worldwide from November 21, 2024. Other sitelinks remain. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/10/sitelinks-search-box))
- **November 29, 2024:** Google removes the sitelinks search box documentation and archives the nositelinkssearchbox rule. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#bye-sitelinkbox))
- **January 23, 2025:** Mobile search results no longer show breadcrumbs in the visible URL, only the domain. They remain on desktop. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/01/simplifying-breadcrumbs))
- **June 12, 2025:** Google announces it will phase out several structured data features, including Book Actions, Course Info, ClaimReview, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement and Vehicle Listing. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/06/simplifying-search-results))
- **September 9, 2025:** Google removes the documentation for course info, estimated salary, learning video, special announcement and vehicle listing. These types no longer appear in results. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#simplification))
- **November 5, 2025:** Google phases out the practice problem and dataset types in Search. For Book Actions, Google withdraws the deprecation notice. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#simplification-nov))
- **May 7, 2026:** FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search. Google announced this in its changelog entry of May 8, 2026. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#deprecating-the-faq-rich-result-feature))
- **June 15, 2026:** Google removes the documentation for the FAQ rich result. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#removing-faq-rich-result))
- **July 1, 2026:** Google now sends users directly to AMP pages on the publisher's own host. The AMP viewer, AMP Cache and signed exchanges are no longer involved. ([Source](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#updating-amp-documentation))

## Related terms

- [Sitelinks](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/sitelinks/index.md)
- [Site names in Search](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/site-names-in-search/index.md)
- [Schema.org](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/schema-org/index.md)
- [JSON-LD](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/json-ld/index.md)
- [Site search](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/site-search/index.md)
- [SERP features](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/serp-features/index.md)

## Sources

- [Farewell, Sitelinks Search Box – Google Search Central Blog](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/10/sitelinks-search-box)
- [Google Deprecates Sitelinks Search Box – Schema App (secondary source)](https://www.schemaapp.com/schema-markup/google-deprecates-sitelinks-search-box-what-it-means-for-your-website/)
- [SearchAction – schema.org](https://schema.org/SearchAction)

---

Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/sitelinks-search-box/