Do you want to get Google Sitelinks for your site?
When you search for a brand on Google… little sub-listings (other important pages) that appear under the first result. They are Google sitelinks.
These sitelinks on Google help brands gain more exposure. Also, improve Click Through Rate (CTR) and this means:
Higher CTR = Get more traffic, as well as improve your website SEO.
In this guide, you will learn what are sitelinks, why they are important and how to create Google sitelinks for your website.
So, let’s get started…
Table of Contents on adding Google Sitelinks
Brief Descriptions of The Content
What Are Google Sitelinks
Google sitelinks are links appear below the site title and description in search engine results pages (SERPs). These are internal links to the most popular pages of the website and makes the navigation process easier for the user before entering the site.
The links shown below some of Google’s search results, called sitelinks, are meant to help users navigate your site. Our systems analyze the link structure of your site to find shortcuts that will save users time and allow them to quickly find the information they’re looking for.
Sitelinks are automated by Google algorithm. You can’t create them yourself because Google automatically generates them which are the most useful pages of the website.
Here is an example of Google Sitelinks:
This provides better user experience and allows users to jump directly to another page without extra clicks.
Sitelinks aren’t displayed for Every Website
If the website is brand new or does not receive a good amount of traffic, Google may not display any sitelinks.
Furthermore, if the site structure doesn’t allow algorithms to find good Sitelinks and is not relevant to the user’s query.
We only show sitelinks for results when we think they’ll be useful to the user. If the structure of your site doesn’t allow our algorithms to find good sitelinks, or we don’t think that the sitelinks for your site are relevant for the user’s query, we won’t show them.
Why Google Sitelinks Are Important
Sitelinks can benefit both your website and your visitors. Here are the top 5 reasons why Google sitelinks are important.
Google Sitelinks Improve Click-Through Rate (CTR)
When people search for any brand, they have more options to choose from the search query. This increases the overall click-through rate. And more CTR gets more traffic.
It gives the user quick access to the most popular pages. The more people click on site in SERPs, the more organic traffic will increase and rank for that search term.
Google Sitelinks Help Build Trust and Credibility
As I already said Google sitelinks are not shown for all websites. When Google displays sitelinks for a brand, it is a sign that the website is popular and well optimized.
When Google shows sitelinks, it takes up a lot of space on Google results. And that’s why Google will not give so much space to a poorly optimized or untrusted site.
Google Sitelinks Increase Your Brand and Product Awareness
Google sitelinks listed the most important link of the website to improve user’s search experience.
However, these can be product pages, pricing pages, about pages or blog which help a user to find out more about a website.
For example, when I search for Ahrefs, Google sitelinks are highlighted the about page, useful product pages as well as pricing page and blog.
This helps to easily discover top page and products of Ahrefs. This is extremely helpful and allows users to navigate directly to the page of their choice without extra clicks.
Get Visits to Internal Pages and Not Just the Homepage
When sitelinks appear for a website, users can easily go to inner pages without visiting the website’s homepage.
This gives users a better experience and drives traffic to those pages, which is more important for the website.
Google Sitelinks Allow Users to Browse Deeper Pages
For some websites, sitelinks display a search box. This Google sitelink search box allows users to search within the website directly from Google.
This is an extremely powerful feature and only displays it for a website with a lot of content.
Now that you know the importance of Google sitelinks… let’s get started how to add sitelinks to your website…
How to Create Google Sitelinks for Your Website
As I have already mentioned. Google sitelinks are a completely automated process. There is no direct way to get Sitelinks for your website.
Also, there is no button in Google Search Console that you can click to enable sitelinks for your site.
But here are certain tips that you can follow to increase your chances of getting Sitelinks for your website.
Your Website Name Must be Unique
Make sure that your website’s name is unique. If you have a generic exact match domain name for your brand, then it will be harder to get Sitelinks.
For example, if your brand has a generic name like ‘The Cake Company’, then it will never gain top position in the search result because the term is too generic.
Even if you rank in the #1 position, it can be difficult for Google to decide. The reason for this is that thousands of cake making companies exist around the world. How can Google find out which one is yours?
But, if you choose a unique name, it will be very easy to rank and get sitelinks.
In rare cases, some generic names perform very well. And a great example of this is Apple. When someone searches for “apple”, then instead of fruit, the company will come in search. Because Google understands a user’s intent.
This example only works because it’s Apple but won’t work for smaller brands, you won’t get a sitelink unless you are the highest authority in the niche.
Rank at Position #1 for Your Brand Name In Search Results
Google sitelinks only show up for the first search result, so you’ll need to rank at position # 1.
When you reach position # 1 place for your website name, it becomes much easier to get sitelinks.
To rank better, you need to follow the WordPress SEO guide, keyword research, quality content and also need to create backlinks.
Use Structured Data
Structured data is also known as rich snippets or schema. This helps search engines understand your website better.
Structured data increases the chances of getting Google sitelinks and featured snippet.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add schema elements using the WordPress SEO plugin.
Use a Clear Website Structure and Navigation
The hierarchy and structure of the website should be clear to crawl and navigate for Google.
If Google does not find all your pages and does not understand how they relate to each other, it will not be easy to get sitelinks.
You can add breadcrumb navigation to make it easy for users and search engines to see the site structure.
Make sure that your website has important pages like About, Pricing, Contact and Privacy Policy page.
Add Sitemap to Google Search Console
Sitemap helps Google to crawl and index your blog better and quickly.
There are so many online tools to create XML sitemap. But WordPress user can use the Yoast SEO plugin.
Once your sitemap is ready, now let’s submit it to the Google Search Console tool…
Log in to your Google Search Console account.
In the left column, click on the ‘Sitemaps’ option, then paste the last part of the URL (sitemap_index.xml) and click on the Submit button.
By adding a sitemap to your Google Search Console, you can help Google choose the most relevant sitelinks.
Make a Habit of Internal Linking
Linking one page to another page in the same domain called Internal Linking. It connects one page to another page on your website.
Internal links are an important part of SEO. It improves website ranking, pageviews, decreases your website bounce rate and helps Google find, index and understand pages on your site.
When you internal linking to pages, Google sees those page important. You can track internal links from Google Search Console. Just login to your dashboard, then click on “Link >> Internal Links”.
Make Your Page Titles Relevant
Page titles are one of the most important parts of on-page SEO.
Make sure you use an effective and relevant title for each page because Google uses page titles to create sitelinks.
Each page title should be short and descriptive (what the page is about). Also, adds the keyword for which you are trying to rank.
Using unusual titles for your pages can affect your SEO and assignment of Google sitelinks.
Increase Your Brand Awareness
As I already mentioned Google sitelinks are usually shown for branded websites.
Just follow the steps given below:
- Create social media profiles for your brand.
- Guest blog on popular websites.
- Participate in community discussions.
- Reaching out to online news outlets.
- Getting positive reviews and testimonials.
- Giving interviews.
The more people know your brand name, the more searches you will get, and the chances of getting Google sitelinks will increase.
Pick A SEO Optimized Theme
There are a lot of themes in the market for WordPress. But not all of them are SEO friendly. If you choose the wrong theme for your site, you can never get Google sitelinks.
I recommend Genesis Framework from Studiopress. It provides very clean coding and super fast loading.
Here I have listed the best SEO friendly WordPress Themes. All these themes are fully SEO optimized and designed with Well coding.
Add A Table Of Contents for Longer Posts
Sitelinks can also appear for specific posts, not just for brand names.
Add a table of contents to your post. This little trick can increase your chances of getting a sitelink for your posts.
It helps the user to easily navigate to another section in your longer posts.
Google follows user flow how the user interacts within the webpage. Table Of Contents provides immediate action to user select the topic according to their interest and needs.
How to Add Google Sitelinks Search Box
If you want Google sitelinks search box for your site in Google results, then you can use Schema.org markup on your website.
You can use the Yoast SEO plugin. It adds the JSON+LD markup automatically.
But if you are not using any SEO plugin, you can use the Sitelinks Search Box plugin to add the relevant JSON LD schema markup.
Wrapping It Up
Now that you know how to get sitelinks to appear in Google search results… then go and get them.
However, it is an automated process. So I can’t guarantee and there is no shortcut to getting sitelinks.
But by following the steps mentioned here, you can increase your chances of getting sitelinks. But you can’t get it in overnight.
And now it’s your turn! Find this article helpful? Don’t forget to share!
dev says
Thanks for this useful information