Authority websites?

I've been seeing authority status on Google for websites which have launched pretty recently. If you don't know what an authority status is, it is when Google gives you extra 4 links after your main website, example here

My question is; what qualifies one for an authory status? Is it backlinks/popularity/search count or something else?

Thanks

 

Here's an example with 3 extra links.

You may have noticed that the patterns for these extra links happen for a variety of reasons: page rank, #of links, {possibly click through ratio on the Serps?}, anchor text, etc... I would put a higher weight on PR than anything. IMO

It should also be noted that this list only comes up when the search is targeted to this specific site.

-I could be wrong on some of the details, but that's my analysis.

 

Google's own explanation of "sitelinks:"

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334

 

well in my opinion,

 

google says them sitelinks. you can find more information on http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334 .

i think backlinks plays a big role about it