If you’re interested in learning everything there is to know about Google Sitelinks – you’ve come to the right place. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in:
Table of Contents
1 What Are Google Sitelinks?
Google Sitelinks are the links that appear below the Google Search results pointing to various pages on the same website presented along with a short description. The goal is to make it easier for searchers to jump to a particular page on the website to reduce the total number of clicks needed to get them where they want to be on your site.
Google Sitelinks aren’t something that you can enable, activate, or opt-in for. It is up to Google to enable them for a website that they think is authoritative for a given query. There is no specific setting or Schema to instruct Google to display links in Sitelinks.
For reference, here’s what the Rank Math’s Sitelinks look like:
You can see that there is a mixture of different pages within our website in the search results.
2 Why Do You Need Sitelinks?
These are some of the reasons why Sitelinks can benefit both your website and your visitors.
2.1 Increases Visibility of Your Site
Sitelinks help to give your website more visibility in the SERPs. They make your site stand out from the rest in the search results. This ultimately generates more traffic on your website.
For some websites, Google is more generous and inserts a search box below the search result followed by Sitelinks. This search box makes it easy for the users to look for some other information that the site offers.
Here’s an example of Tripadvisor search box:
The addition of the search box will again improve CTR and help the users to understand your website completely.
2.2 Enables Quick Navigation
Most of the time, users will browse your homepage, product pages, and service pages without further getting deep into your content.
As Sitelinks offer various options to users, so the chances that they’ll find what they want increase tremendously. Users might only browse the most important pages on your website, but with the help of Sitelinks, they might even visit your popular blog posts.
As Sitelinks provide quicker navigation, users will not have to endlessly scroll your web page to get to where they need to be, resisting the temptation to leave. Instead, they’ll directly jump to the section that they are interested in right away.
2.3 Helps in Product Awareness
Another advantage of Sitelinks is that they help generate product awareness for users. Businesses can make use of Sitelinks to link to their important pages, which can also be the products or the service pages of the website. By doing so, Sitelinks helps to enhance brand awareness by making the audience aware of the various products or services you offer.
This is how our Sitelinks appear, highlighting the key product pages as well as the blog:
2.4 Improves the Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Sitelinks offer relevant pages to the users that take them directly to their desired products/services. By providing instant access to the users to the most popular pages will thereby help them to click through the pages. The more users click on your website, the more you’ll improve your rankings for that particular search term. This ultimately drives organic traffic to your website.
3 How to Generate Google Sitelinks for Your Website?
You can’t just flick a switch and conquer the Google Sitelinks for your website. Sitelinks have a lot to offer in the Search Engines and are incredibly useful to the users. As you have no control over Sitelinks and like any other element of SEO, Sitelinks will not appear overnight.
You can thereby increase your chance of earning the Sitelinks by following the best available guidelines that are mentioned below.
3.1 Unique Website Name
The first step in earning the Sitelinks is to ensure that you have a unique brand name for your website.
For example, if your website is called ‘The Chocolate Company,’ it’s likely that it will never gain the first result on the search engines as the term is too generic. There could be thousands of companies that sell chocolates all around the world. How can Google figure out which one is yours? Hence, it is a good practice to have a unique name for the website.
In rare cases, brand names will qualify for the first-page result even though they have generic names. Apple is one example of this. Based on users’ intent, Google knows users who are looking for ‘Apple’ want to know more about the company Apple and not the fruit.
3.2 Secure Rank #1 for Your Brand Name
Google Sitelinks are earned only by those websites that acquire first place in the SERPs. Hence you have to rank at #1 in order to gain the sitelinks.
Once you reach the top position for your website name, it’s much easier to get Sitelinks.
3.3 Website’s Structure Should Be Crystal Clear
Websites that possess a clear hierarchy and structure are the ones that are easiest to crawl and Google can navigate them quickly. If the structure is not good, Google will not be able to locate all the pages on your website, and hence, it won’t be able to display relevant Sitelinks.
Using Structured Data can help to improve your website’s appearance in the SERPs, such as by displaying reviews or using event snippets, but it can also help you when it comes to Sitelinks. You can also specify your about page, contact page, enable breadcrumbs, and a Sitelinks search box.
3.4 Build Internal Links
Internal links are a vital part of SEO. The more you link to an internal page on your website, the more important that page appears to Google. Adding internal links to pages you want to show up in Sitelinks is always a good idea.
Adding internal links not only helps Google’s crawlers navigate the site better, but also helps users to move through the website while engaging with the content.
3.5 Use Appropriate Page Titles
Page Titles are very important from an SEO point of view, and Google looks at these page titles to provide relevant Sitelinks. Ensure that the page titles are short and are capable of describing your page to the users.
For example: Naming the “About Us” page as “Get to Know Us Better” might simply confuse Google and can result in duplicate links.
Lastly, we’ll conclude by saying that it isn’t compulsory for each and every website to have Sitelinks but they are helpful if you can earn them. However, it’s not the end of the earth if you don’t get them. Follow the advice listed and just keep patience – eventually, you’ll get Sitelinks.