Site Search Box

A site search box in search results is a search field shown directly inside a site's Google listing, letting users search within that site from the results page.

When Google shows the sitelinks searchbox, the brand's listing includes a search input. A user types a query into it and is taken to that site's own internal search results for the term, rather than running another Google search. It is a convenience feature that mainly appears for branded or navigational queries where the user clearly wants a specific site and is likely to search within it.

A site can signal eligibility for this feature with sitelinks searchbox structured data, using the WebSite type with a SearchAction that describes the URL pattern of your internal search. The markup tells Google how to construct a search URL on your site from the user's query.

{
  "@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"
  }
}

As with all rich features, the markup makes a site eligible but Google decides whether to display the box, and it generally appears only for sites with a working internal search and strong brand signals. Note that Google has been reducing how often it shows this element over time, so treat it as a possible enhancement rather than a guaranteed result.

Related: Sitelinks, Schema Markup, Rich Results