Get Google Sitelinks for Your Snippets (Organic and Paid)

SEO and Content Marketing Expert at SE Ranking specializing in industry research around SEO and AI trends.

Reviewed by SEO Specialist at SE Ranking. Olena has expertise in market research, website performance improving, investigating and fixing technical SEO issues.

Nov 06, 2024

Key Takeaways

• Google sitelinks are additional links to the important pages of a website, located below the main listing in a SERP result. They are designed to simplify user navigation and deliver relevant information quickly.

• There are two types of sitelinks: organic and paid.

• Organic sitelinks originate directly from Google’s algorithms. You may not have direct control over them, but there are several ways to help Google improve their quality. For example, you can build a clear website structure, add internal links with relevant anchor texts, and optimize your website content.

• Paid sitelinks, also known as sitelinks extensions or sitelink assets, are extra links that appear in search or video ads next to your main search result. You can set up paid sitelinks for search campaigns and video campaigns on YouTube.

• The following factors can affect your eligibility to get Google sitelinks: page usefulness, website structure, and the relevance of your internal links’ anchor texts.

• Sitelinks offer several key benefits, including increased user engagement, improved search visibility & CTR, and reduced bounce rate.

• It takes extra effort to maintain both types of sitelinks. The links, their titles, and their descriptions must always remain up-to-date and accurate. If this is not done properly, your sitelinks can become outdated, irrelevant, or even misleading.

Organic sitelinks

Google’s algorithms automatically generate organic sitelinks. This means that you can’t edit or change them as you see fit. Google only shows sitelinks when it thinks they are useful to the user.

As of now, Google organic sitelinks can be divided into two main groups: column sitelinks and one-line sitelinks. In the following sections, we’ll explore their differences, provide real-life sitelink examples, and outline best practices to enhance your chances of acquiring them.

Column sitelinks

Column sitelinks only appear under brand queries. Previously, the only possible scenario was as follows: a person Googles a brand’s name, and Google shows the top search result, featuring the brand’s homepage along with sitelinks to other major web pages.

To determine which pages Google has displayed in the sitelinks for a particular date, filter the ranking table by results with sitelinks, then click on the ranking position of your brand keyword for the day of your interest. This will enable you to view the cached SERP copy (your search result + all the sitelinks will appear at the top).

Searchbox for sitelinks

For nearly a decade, users have been able to use the sitelinks search box to quickly access specific content within websites. This search box often appears for well-known brands with large sites, such as Pinterest, TripAdvisor, Capterra, and UNICEF.

However, on November 21, 2024, Google removed the sitelinks search box feature due to a noticeable decline in its usage.

One-line sitelinks

The most prominent difference between column and one-line sitelinks is their visual aspect. Column sitelinks dominate the SERP, whereas one-line sitelinks look rather modest.

Mobile vs. desktop SERP sitelinks

Google sitelinks on mobile and desktop search results are not the same. On mobile devices, it’s common to see more sitelinks beneath a specific search result compared to the desktop version, even if the desktop snippet for the same website displays fewer sitelinks.

Paid sitelinks

As implied by their name, paid sitelinks, also known as sitelink extensions or sitelink assets, are the extra links placed below the main URL within search ads. Their main feature is that you get complete control over them in SERPs.

Search campaigns

On desktop devices, your ad can show up to six sitelinks. They will appear either in a column or side by side:

Video campaigns

In video campaigns, paid sitelinks are most often included at the beginning, middle, or end of YouTube videos.

Currently, you have the option to display up to four sitelinks below eligible ads.

How to get paid sitelinks?

1. Sign into your Google Ads account, navigate to the Campaigns tab, and select Assets from the dropdown menu.
2. Click the plus button, then go to Sitelink, and choose where you’d like to add the sitelink: Account, Campaign, or Ad group.
3. Fill out the fields, including Sitelink text, Description line, and URL.
4. Save these changes.

What can affect your eligibility for sitelinks?

Overall, several factors can influence whether sitelinks appear in SERPs. In this section, we’ll explore the most impactful aspects, including usefulness, website structure, and traffic count.

Usefulness

So, what makes sitelinks useful? More specifically, what links does Google consider to be useful?

Website structure

Google typically creates sitelinks from the items in your menu, so panning a simple and easy-to-follow website structure increases your chances of getting sitelinks.

Amount of traffic

Maybe you’re doing everything right. You have the perfect website structure, a thought-out internal linking strategy, and proper Schema markups. And yet, column sitelinks still won’t show up.

Sitelink gains and pains

So, how can sitelinks benefit your business online?

1. Increased user engagement and brand awareness:

• Both the column and one-line sitelink types help users spot web pages that they could have missed otherwise.

2. Improved CTR and search visibility:

• Sitelinks, especially column ones, boost your CTR SEO performance.

3. Reduced bounce rate:

• Sitelinks provide users with many options. This increases the chance that users will find what they need right away.

Final thoughts

Sitelinks are just one of the numerous SERP elements introduced by Google to help users find the information they need.