Mark Simmons — January 11, 2017 Follow @mixeddigitalThe CTR (click through rate) tells Google if you’re attracting clicks and the higher the CTR, the more consumers feel that your ad is relevant to them. Even more important to recognize is that Google places a lot of importance on relevancy. What this means is that the more clicks you receive from visitor’s that are relevant to your business, the more return you achieve on your ad spend. This brings us to Sitelinks.
More About Sitelinks
Sitelinks present users with additional choices on where to click which means that instead of choosing one destination landing page, you can choose 5 or more. Sitelink extensions also boost CTR rates and the additional links of copy make your ads more visible and relevant. When you improve your relevancy and visibility, you increase CTR which is what we all want right? Following are 6 tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of your AdWords campaigns by lifting CTR using Sitelink extensions.
1. Keep it Short
Google lets advertisers use up to 25 characters in sitelink descriptions, however, because you have the extra space you don’t need to use it. As reported by Google, short and to the point link copy performs better. Google suggests shooting for a baseline of 12 to 15 characters for mobile and 18 to 20 for desktop links. This makes certain that your important message isn’t cut down on the SERP.
2. Address Time Sensitive Links
If you’re planning on running limited time offers, special promotions or looking to highlight holiday sales, Sitelinks provide the best way to do it. That said, it’s important to keep on top of your time sensitive sitelinks by scheduling start and end dates. It’s a real turn off to consumers to end up on a page where the discounts aren’t valid any longer.
3. Periodically Check Your Links
Have you ever landed on a page while searching for information, only to end up on a 404 error page? Talk about irritating! There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing an ad that grabs your attention because it appears to offer exactly what you’re searching for, just to end up on a dead link. Do your potential clients a huge favor by periodically checking your links.
4. Up Your Ranking
Most online advertisers get that Google is more prone to present extensions for ads when they appear in the top positions. Most also understand that the volume of extensions served also decreases as the advertiser’s position decreases. Consequently, if the ad rank is bad, the odds are high that the sitelinks will ever show up. Bottom line, just because you’ve generated your sitelink extensions doesn’t mean that they’ll always be presented alongside your ads
5. Enhance Your Ad Copy
Stuffing your ad’s word count isn’t a bad thing if you go about it carefully. If your ad creative and extensions only promote one value proposition, you will lose out on the chance to establish a persuasive case for your product. Thanks to Google’s wealth of valuable extensions, including call outs, structured snippets, as well as expanded text ads, marketer’s today have almost twice as much ad space to rave about their products and services.
6. Comply with Google’s Ad Policy Guidelines
AdWords’ policies in regards to sitelinks are almost identical to their guideline related to using symbols (exclamation points, etc.) and the use of dynamic keyword insertion. You would be surprised by how many advertisers don’t consider Google’s AdWords guidelines which results in their sitelinks being disapproved. If you’re going to take the time to use sitelinks, be sure to check out the ad policy guidelines and verify that you’re doing it right.
When it comes to AdWords ad extensions, Sitelink extensions are definitely considered “KING.” Sitelinks are the most versatile of the available extensions as well and work perfectly on all devices, meaning that they’re mobile friendly. Bottom line, Google AdWords’ sitelinks is a powerful SEO tool for any PPC account.
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