Sitelink extensions are a great way to expand your ad copy real estate, and in the battle of visibility sometimes they’re the easiest way to stand out against the competition.
Sitelinks are now available in both AdWords and Bing Ads and I highly recommend using them every chance you get. They’re so easy to set up and get rolling. There’s really no excuse not to have them in your campaigns.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to use them.
Cross Promote
I love to use sitelinks to cross promote additional product lines and categories. I will often use best sellers, new inventory, lowest priced inventory, holiday gift guides, etc.
Remember, each URL in your sitelinks must be a unique page so some of these may require a new product family page on your site.
UpSell
Upsells are another great strategy to use for sitelinks. You can get really granular with the upsell strategy on the AdWords platform as ad group level sitelinks are now available with enhanced campaigns.
In my eCommerce accounts, I tend to have branded product specific campaigns targeting the names of the products offered. Often a popular style or product will gain momentum in search similar to a branded keyword. It’s important to leverage this highly relevant traffic and with the addition of ad group level sitelinks I can leverage these extensions for related product referrals. I can include sitelinks for products that most often share the cart with the product that is targeted in each ad group.
This same strategy can be applied to Bing Ads, however over on Bing we still have campaign level sitelinks only. Yet another reason to manage these two platforms separately. Keep this in mind and adjust accordingly.
Get Social
Did you know that you can use social media properties in your sitelinks? No joke!
Well, at least on Google you can. The jury is still out on Bing. The Bing policy is vague and says,
Sitelink Extensions are additional links in your ads that take people to specific pages on your website.
I’ve used this approach quite a bit on Google for brands that only have a single product, an awesome social following, or are running social contests. If they’re a brand well known in social circles this can even add trust to the ads, similar to the use of ‘Official’ ad copy. Try using social properties to expand your unique URL options.
Brag
Use sitelinks as a place to call attention to anything that you provide above and beyond the competition. Think about money back guarantees, free shipping, free returns, warranties, all natural ingredients, eco-friendly practices, etc.
Adding these attributes to the sitelinks will free up additional ad real estate in the main ad copy for you to get creative with your use of language as well as free up space for any current promotions.
Think about your sitelink strategy. There is more to this extension than simply making sure the space is filled. Get creative and give your sitelinks purpose!
Lemme know how you use sitelinks, I’m always on the hunt for new ideas!
