Yet again Google add a new extension to their paid search offering – Ad Sitelinks. Sitelinks for natural search results have been around for sometime, they usually appear for brand terms or results that are absolutely the ‘best answer’, they appear as up to 8 links under the result, like this
Google Sitelinks for Natural Search
Not so long ago Google widened the scheme to include single line Sitelinks that also appeared for results on generic keywords and on results that are not just position 1, such as this:
Single Line Sitelinks
This site appears 7th for the keyword but has single line Sitelinks. Generally Sitelinks are about stability of the position and age of the domain.
Google Ad Sitelinks
In the last week Google has launched Sitelinks for Ads, so paid adverts on Google can now show Sitelinks. They look like this:
Ad Sitelinks Google
How do you get Ad Sitelinks?
How are they generated? Firstly you need to modify your AdWords campaign and here is Google’s instructions:
- Log into your AdWords account
- Click on the Campaign Settings tab and go to the “Show additional links to my site” section under “Ad extensions”
- List the names and URLs of up to 10 internal links (prioritizing the most important links first)
- Click “Save” when you’ve finished adding your links
- If a user search triggers your ad to run with Ad Sitelinks, our system may include up to four of your additional links on your ad, along with the main landing page link
What Triggers Ad Sitelinks?
Well, similar to natural search Sitelinks and Google has this to say on how they are triggered:
- Your ad should have the first position above the search results
- Your ad should have a very high quality score
- Your Ad Sitelinks URLs must direct users to pages that are part of your main website, and allow users to navigate freely
Actually I don’t think anything other than a brand term would trigger them.
Key Point for Integrated Search Strategies
What’s important is that you need to be position 1, for those sites that have reduced brand position in AdWords because natural search picks up the slack may have to revisit that strategy. Previously advertisers have carried out extensive positional tests where competitors bid on their brand term to find the optimal position for their advert, for some this has been as low as 4 or 5, this may need to change.
What’s the Cost?
All links within the advert are charged at the same rate, so if you are paying £0.10 per click and Ad Sitelinks appear you will pay £0.10 no matter which of your links is clicked.
