Google Search Results - Name of site Vs URL of site in listing

[isorg]

Hi,

I have been scratching my head about this one, so thought I'd ask here. Apologies in advance if it's already been covered...

In the Google search results page, some of my sites appear with the site name to the right of the icon. But some appear with the URL eg. www.website.com.

Also, some appear with the favicon for the site. Some appear with a generic Wordpress "W" favicon.

I've been fiddling with things like the page schema to fix this but no success. I can't even work out where the site name needs to be specified, or is it just down to Google deciding what it wants to show.

Could anyone please shed any light on this?

Many thanks, in advance :-)

[not2easy]

I've not looked into fine tuning the serps listings, but it could be related to having or not having a physical presence, such as a GMB listing. You can read about that here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[not2easy]

Also, some appear with the favicon for the site. Some appear with a generic Wordpress "W" favicon.

The "W" is a default, but if you upload a favicon.ico file to your theme files (replacing their default file), it will use that instead.

[isorg]

That's awesome, thank you :-)

[RedBar]

or is it just down to Google deciding what it wants to show.

That just about sums it up. At on time, 15-20 years ago, one could pretty much generate the title bar and meta tags and know more or less what most engines woud display however I think it was about 2005 specifically in a G update this all changed. I remember it because Tedster and I had a few weeks head scratching with one of my sites.

[lewis1]

The site name has to be consistent across the website, always written in the exact same way. It should be mentioned on the home page, footer, etc. If you have a GBP listing that helps too. It can take a long time for Google to pick it up though.