Google Now Displaying Six Sitelinks In Paid Search

Google AdWords is evolving! More front end, user facing enhancements have occurred in the last year than I can remember in my 7+ years of paid search. This is really fun for me because I’m obsessed with PPC and also because the front end is all about marketing at its best. The tools now available, via Google ad extensions, empower us more than ever to deliver amazing ad experiences to the end user.

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you probably know I’m a huge fan of sitelinks. Out of all the Google AdWords ad extensions, sitelinks are by far my favorite. Today, I’m excited to share a neat screenshot (below) that shows State Farm’s brand ad with six sitelinks! That’s right, if your CTR is high enough, Google now appears to be delivering six sitelinks. Also, I’m pleased to share some of my favorite sitelinks tips and strategies.

PPC Ian’s Top 4 Sitelinks Tips

Now, this is cool for State Farm, but you may be wondering what does this mean for you? Good question! First and foremost, make sure to make sure all your campaigns (especially the ones that house your brand name terms) have six sitelinks. If you don’t have six sitelinks, it’s impossible for six to show up. Side note: I noticed one advertiser recently who only had three sitelinks (two on the first line and one on the second). I think it’s because they only had three in their campaign, how embarrassing. I never advise having fewer than four sitelinks. If your worried about which ones Google will pick, don’t be. If you include six sitelinks, but only two or four show, Google will pick the ones that optimize your CTR (to the best of my knowledge).

Second, I highly recommend longer sitelinks. If you have longer sitelinks, they’re likely to occupy multiple lines like State Farm’s. However, let’s say you have shorter sitelinks. Then, they’re likely to display side-by-side and occupy fewer lines (less real estate).

Third, I recommend sending your sitelinks to different landing pages. The original intent of sitelinks is bringing your site’s navigation closer to the user. Now, you could send all of them to the same landing page, however this is not an ideal user experience and could lower your conversion rate.

Last, I recommend including calls to action in your sitelinks. State Farm does not do this, although I cannot fault them because they appear to be doing quite well. That said, there is always room for improvement when it comes to pay per click. If State Farm included words like “compare”, “find”, “get”, “apply”, etc. in their sitelinks, they are likely to improve CTR and conversion rate too (in my opinion).

Image in this post © Google and State Farm