Domain names in mobile search — Google nixing

Search results replace domain name with site name.

Google is making sweeping changes to its search rankings on mobile devices next week, but the search giant just introduced another pretty big change.

Starting yesterday, Google began replacing the URL in search results with the site’s name and breadcrumb. The site-name-instead-of-domain is rolling out in the U.S. only for now. Breadcrumbs are rolling out worldwide.

Here’s an example:

In this example, domaining.com has been replaced by “Domaining” and DomainSherpa.com has been replaced with “DomainSherpa”. I’ve noticed that Google hasn’t picked up the site name, or sees the site name as a full domain, on some sites (see DomainIncite.com).

This move devalues domain names and puts more emphasis on whatever someone wants to call their site. I hope that Google has a good way to prevent people from spoofing names; I ultimately put a lot of trust in a search result based on the specific domain name it’s pointing to.