Google Changes SERP Entry Format

In a surprisingly move, Google has changed the format of SERP entries. 
Whereas before they consisted of:

  • Page Title with link to the specific page
  • Description based on the meta-description or page content depending on the search term used to find the entry
  • URL of the specific page,

the latter is now quite different for many sites using a breadcrumb trail.
Instead of the Page URL, the SERP URL is now a multi-link reference based on the breadcrumb trail.
For many osCommerce sites, this means a Product’s URL as shown in the SERP is no longer the URL of the Product.  It now consists of :
DomainName  > … >  Category One > Category Two > 
Clicking on the DomainName takes you to the Home Page. Clicking on Category One takes you to Category One and obviously clicking on Category Two takes you to Category Two.  None take you to the actual Page itself.   This means that the only link to the Product is the Page Title itself.
This no doubt will cause confusion for surfers used to clicking on the URL instead of the Page Title to get to the page they want.  And in turn it could well mean they leave your site in confusion thinking you in fact DON”T sell the product they found in their search results.   We see that bait and switch a lot in PPC. Sites advertising things they don’t sell.  So it will be natural for people to assume that this is now happening with SERP entries.
Step forward for Natural Search?  I don’t think so.