Introduction

Google Ad Extensions (now called Assets) are valuable for improving your search ads with features that increase your ads performance, and in the process, boost their click-through rate (CTR) and thus lower your cost-per-click (CPC). There are many types of ad extensions. Each ad extension has been designed by Google to serve specific purposes. In this post, our focus will be on one of the most effective ad extensions known as Google Sitelink Extension.

Now, let’s do a deep dive in and explore the fundaments of the Google sitelink extension.

You probably may have guessed from the name “sitelink extension” that this is a type of ad extension that adds more links from your website to your Google search ads headline and description, and you are right. Each of these additional links has both a headline and one or two descriptions. The sitelink headlines are clickable but the descriptions are not.

 

The display of your Google Ad sitelinks is entirely at the discretion of Google. Google may display 2 to 6 of your sitelinks on the desktop a computer, or on a laptop device and as many as 8 sitelinks on a mobile device. Google may also decide not to display any of your sitelinks. Also, your sitelink descriptions and not be displayed. What to do with these functionalities is entirely a prerogative that Google reserves for itself.

 

Purpose and Benefits of Google Ads Sitelink Extensions

• Sitelink ad extensions occupy more virtual advertising real estate than other ad extensions at no extra cost to the advertiser.
• They are clickable blue text ad fonts that help your customers navigate straightaway to the exact website landing page that is of interest to them.
• Because sitelink extensions occupy more virtual advertising real estate, are clickable blue fonts, and can take your prospects directly to the website landing page of interest to them, your search ad should have a higher click-through rate (CTR) than other search ads.
• A higher click-through rate (CTR) should result in lower keyword bid cost and cost-per-click (CPC).
• Sitelink extensions may occupy as much as three times the ad space of your ad headlines and descriptions at no extra cost to the advertiser.
• Sitelink extensions are displayed in clickable blue fonts and this aids the visibility and visual engagement of your ad.

 

Fundamentals of Sitelink Extensions and Best Practices

• Sitelink Placement Options: You have three options about where you can add sitelink extensions; namely,
  • At the Accounts level, which may be too broad if you have many campaigns and or ad groups. This is usually not always recommended.
  • At the campaign level address all your ad groups within a specific campaign.
  • At the ad group level, which will specifically target the keywords of each Ad Group.

 

• Add Multiple Sitelinks: Add at least 6 sitelinks. Add as many sitelinks as possible. Give Google the option to decide how many sitelinks and descriptions to display, especially at the Ad Group level.

 

• Use full descriptions: Though only two lines, with a character limit of 25 is allowed for each sitelink description, you may use both lines (60 characters) to fully describe each headline or what you offer. However, you must stay within the character limit of each description so as to avoid your description being truncated.

 

• Sell that Link: Be resourceful and creative in your sitelink description. Your goal is to sell a link by encouraging your prospective customers to click. Use descriptive action words or phrases that attract the interest of a search query. Remember that search ad customers have very high buyer intent. So, use your descriptions to arouse their interest and or curiosity.

 

• Your Sitelinks Should Be Specific: This is why it is preferable to add your sitelinks at the ad group level. However, if you are not able to do so, then add the sitelink at the campaign level.

 

• Use Google Analytics to Identify Points of Interest: Once your Google Ads are up and running, Google Analytics will provide you with performance data about where people navigate the most on your website. These performance data include impressions, conversions, and more. So, include your sitelinks to things and areas people are more interested in. Re-draft sitelinks that Google Analytics shows are not attracting enough links. Constantly checking your sitelink result for analytics performance and result in data and constantly updating them to optimize your ad results.

 

• Differentiate Headlines Descriptions from sitelink Descriptions: the descriptions you use in your main search ad headlines descriptions should be very different from the descriptions you craft in your sitelink descriptions. Do not use the same description or two or more descriptions that are so close in their phrasing that they may as well be regarded as the descriptions. This is because both descriptions may be displayed side-by-side in your search ad text and this may confuse your prospects.

 

• NOTE: Remember that it is up to Google to decide which of your sitelinks to display and Google may decide not to even display any of your sitelinks altogether. So, do not think that you have done anything wrong if none or most of your sitelinks are not displayed.

 

Do’s and Don’ts of Sitelink Extensions

Sitelink extensions have a number of best practices do’s and don’ts for top results. Some of them are:

 

• Keep your sitelink ad copy short

Google advises that you keep your sitelink ad copy short for best performance. The maximum number of characters for each sitelink copy is 25. However, you do not need to exhaust the entire 25-character limit. The optimal number of characters you should aim for is 18 to 20-character length for desktop ads and 12 to 15-character length for ads on mobile devices. Exhaustively using all the characters may result in your ad being truncated.

 

• Keep your sight on your metrics:

Constantly keep your sight on the following Google Analytics metrics:

 

 

1. Impressions: check to see how many people saw each of your sitelinks. Where the number is low, audit the sitelink. Perhaps the URL is directing site visitors to the wrong website landing page. Or the ad copy is not resonating with your customers enough. For a remedy, try updating the sitelink headline(s) and or description(s). Also, check to be sure that the landing page URL is correct.

 

2. Click-through Rate (CTR): are you satisfied with your CTR? If your impression rate is exceedingly higher than your CTR, that may be a red flag that your ad copy is not resonating with your customers, and they are not clicking. Try re-drafting the ad copy.

 

3. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): if you consider the CRO of your sitelink low, then it is a good idea to re-evaluate your sitelink extensions again. Perhaps you are not sending your site visitors to the right website landing page. Also, re-examine both your sitelink headlines and headline descriptions.

 

4. Set the Duration of the campaign.

Is your campaign for end-of-an-season Promotional sales? Set a start and end date for the sales promotion. It’s such a waste of resources to continue to run a campaign after the validity period

 

Final thoughts.

Ad extensions are very important for your Google search ad campaigns. They do not add to your cost. Rather, by intelligently deploying them, you increase by as much as 20 percent your ad impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and cost-per-click (CPC). It could be argued that the sitelink extension is the king of all ad extensions in terms of its capacity to produce advertising desired results.