Why do site links appear under one keyword and not another? Any ideas?

[RebeccaRalston]

Hi everyone,

I have a client whose website is doing the strangest thing.  When I search the branded keyword (the company name), Google doesn't show any site links under the result. However, when I search for the company name plus Inc., I do get site links.

Now, the website is ranking first in both searches, so that's not the issue.  And, as near as I can tell, the site only contains one or two uses of the company name plus the word "inc." Most of the text on the page and all of the meta data only uses the company name, and most of the links that connect to the site use only the company name as well. Even the Who Is for the site doesn't use the term "inc."

And ideas what might be going on?  I know Google says that the process is still automated but for the life of me I can't figure out what kind of automated process would result in these results.

Thanks!

Megan (Rebecca's minion)

[Alex-Harford]

Perhaps it's because the "Inc." isn't used as often in anchor text and searches people make for your brand? Is it in your title tag? The majority (if not all) sitelinks I've seen are brand related so adding "Inc." could remove the brand association.

A search for [amazon shoes] for me gets big sitelinks, whereas a search for [amazon books] only gets small sitelinks (both without personalisation). I'd think Amazon was more associated with books than shoes (and the stats back this up), so sitelinks are probably hit and miss at times...

EDIT: Oh dear, I just realised I've read your post the wrong way around. Only refer to the second paragraph then. ...Inc. is obviously business associated so maybe that's why the sitelinks show, and the brand name isn't considered strong enough without it. Are there any other brands that have similar/the same names without the Inc.?

[SEO5Team]

Hi Megan,

Dr. Pete has an interesting post on this link. Be sure to read the comments as well.