Sitelinks in Google Ads: What They Are, How They Work, and How to Use Them

When your Google Ads show up in search results, you have one headline and two descriptions to make your case. Sitelinks give you more. They are the additional links that appear beneath your ad, each pointing to a different page on your site, each giving a searcher another reason to click and a faster path to what they actually want.

Done well, sitelinks make your ad take up significantly more space on the page, give searchers multiple entry points into your business, and increase the chances that the right person finds exactly what they are looking for before they even get to your website.

Done poorly, or not done at all, you are leaving one of Google Ads' most impactful free features unused while your competitors' ads take up twice the screen real estate yours does.

This guide covers everything you need to know about sitelinks in Google Ads: what they are, how Google decides when to show them, the different types available, how to set them up, and how to write them so they actually drive clicks rather than just filling space.

What Are Sitelinks in Google Ads?

Sitelinks are additional links that appear beneath the main headline of your Google Ads search ad. Each sitelink has its own link text, its own destination URL, and optionally its own two-line description. They appear as a row of clickable links directly below your ad copy, giving searchers shortcuts to specific pages on your site rather than sending everyone to the same landing page.

Here is what they look like in practice. A searcher types "Google Ads management agency" and your ad appears. Below your headline and description, they see four additional links: "View Case Studies," "Our Google Ads Services," "Free Ad Account Review," and "About Buddylytics." Each one goes somewhere different. Each one speaks to a different type of searcher.

The searcher who is ready to hire clicks "Free Ad Account Review." The one who wants proof first clicks "View Case Studies." The one who is still researching clicks "About Buddylytics." Without sitelinks, all three of them land on the same page and your conversion rate reflects how well that one page serves three different intents simultaneously.

Sitelinks solve that problem by letting the searcher self-select into the right part of your site before they even click.

How Google Decides When to Show Your Sitelinks

You cannot force sitelinks to appear. Google decides whether to show them based on a combination of factors, and understanding those factors is the difference between sitelinks that show up consistently and ones that rarely appear despite being set up correctly.

Ad Rank threshold

Sitelinks only show when your ad is performing well enough to warrant the additional real estate. Google reserves the expanded format that includes sitelinks for ads with strong Ad Rank, which is determined by your bid, your Quality Score, and the expected impact of your ad extensions including the sitelinks themselves.

If your sitelinks are not showing, the most common reason is that your Ad Rank is not high enough to trigger the expanded format. Improving your Quality Score by tightening keyword relevance, improving your landing page experience, and writing stronger ad copy will do more to get your sitelinks showing than any amount of tweaking the sitelinks themselves.

Relevance to the search query

Google will not show sitelinks that it considers irrelevant to what the person searched. If someone searches for a very specific product and your sitelinks point to generic pages like "About Us" and "Blog," Google may suppress them entirely because they do not add value for that particular search.

This is why matching your sitelinks to the intent of each campaign or ad group matters. A sitelink that is relevant for a branded search campaign may not be relevant for a product-specific campaign, and Google's system is sophisticated enough to make that distinction.

Minimum sitelink requirement

Google requires a minimum of two active sitelinks before any will show. In practice, you should always aim for at least four to give Google enough options to choose the most relevant combination for each search query. More options mean more opportunities for Google to find a relevant match, which increases the frequency with which your sitelinks appear.

Device and placement

How many sitelinks show depends on where your ad appears. On desktop, Google can show up to six sitelinks in a row beneath your ad. On mobile, typically two to four sitelinks show depending on the screen size and search context. Sitelinks also appear in some Google Maps placements and occasionally on the Display Network, though search is where they have the most impact.

Campaign eligibility

Sitelinks work across Search campaigns, Performance Max campaigns, and some Smart campaigns. They do not apply to Display-only campaigns. For most advertisers running standard Search campaigns, sitelinks are available at the campaign, ad group, or account level.

The Different Types of Sitelinks in Google Ads

Google Ads offers several types of sitelinks, each designed for a different purpose. Understanding which type fits your campaign goal will help you build a more effective extension strategy.

Standard sitelinks

These are the most common type and what most advertisers mean when they talk about sitelinks. A standard sitelink has a short link text of up to 25 characters and an optional description of up to 35 characters per line, with two description lines available. The link points to any page on your website.

Standard sitelinks are the right choice for the vast majority of campaigns. They are flexible, widely supported, and give you the most control over where you send different segments of your audience.

Dynamic sitelinks

Google can automatically generate sitelinks for your ads based on your website content if you do not have enough manually created sitelinks or if Google determines its generated versions are more relevant. These are called dynamic sitelinks.

Dynamic sitelinks are better than nothing but they are almost always worse than well-crafted manual sitelinks. Google's automatically generated versions tend to be generic and do not reflect the specific messaging, offers, or audience intent you have thought through for your campaigns. Always create your own sitelinks rather than relying on dynamic generation.

Sitelink descriptions

While not a separate type, descriptions deserve their own mention because they are consistently underused. Each sitelink can have two lines of description text, up to 35 characters each. When Google shows the expanded version of your ad, these descriptions appear below the sitelink text and give searchers additional context before they click.

Adding descriptions to your sitelinks significantly increases the amount of space your ad takes up on the page and gives searchers more information to self-qualify. Most advertisers skip descriptions entirely. That is a meaningful missed opportunity.

How to Set Up Sitelinks in Google Ads

Sitelinks are added through Google Ads' assets section, which replaced what used to be called extensions. Here is the exact process.

Step 1 - Decide where to add your sitelinks

Before touching anything in the interface, decide at what level you want your sitelinks to live.

Account level sitelinks apply to every campaign in your account. Use this level for sitelinks that are universally relevant to your business regardless of what campaign is running, things like "About Us," "Contact," or "Case Studies."

Campaign level sitelinks apply only to a specific campaign. Use this for sitelinks that are relevant to the theme of that campaign but not every campaign in your account. A campaign targeting Google Ads services should have different sitelinks than a campaign targeting analytics services.

Ad group level sitelinks apply only to a specific ad group within a campaign. Use this when you need the most granular control, for example when different ad groups within the same campaign target meaningfully different audiences or intents.

Start at the campaign level for most situations and move to ad group level only when a campaign contains ad groups with significantly different intents that warrant different sitelinks.

Step 2 - Navigate to assets

Sign in to your Google Ads account. In the left navigation menu click Campaigns, then select the campaign you want to add sitelinks to. In the left menu click Assets. At the top of the Assets page you will see a blue plus button. Click it and select Sitelink from the dropdown menu.

If you want to add sitelinks at the account level rather than the campaign level, navigate to Assets from the main left menu before selecting a specific campaign.

Step 3 - Create your sitelinks

For each sitelink you will fill in the following fields:

Sitelink text is the clickable link label the searcher sees. Keep it under 25 characters. Be specific and action-oriented. "View Case Studies" is better than "Case Studies." "Get a Free Review" is better than "Free Review."

Final URL is where the sitelink sends the searcher. This should be a specific page relevant to the sitelink text, not your homepage. If your sitelink says "View Pricing," it should go to your pricing page, not your homepage where the visitor has to find pricing themselves.

Description line 1 and 2 are optional but worth filling in. Each line supports up to 35 characters. Use these to add context that supports the link text and gives the searcher a reason to click that specific sitelink over the others.

Step 4 - Set scheduling if needed

Google Ads allows you to schedule sitelinks to show only during certain days or hours. This is useful for sitelinks that reference time-sensitive offers, business hours, or promotions with specific end dates. If your sitelinks are evergreen, skip scheduling and leave them running continuously.

Step 5 - Save and monitor

Click Save. Your sitelinks will go through a review process before they become eligible to show. This typically takes less than 24 hours for standard sitelinks with no policy concerns.

Once your sitelinks are live, check their performance in the Assets section of your campaign. Google shows you impressions, clicks, and CTR broken down by individual sitelink, which tells you which links are resonating with your audience and which are being ignored.

How to Write Sitelinks That Actually Get Clicked

Setting up sitelinks is the easy part. Writing them so they contribute meaningfully to your campaign performance is where most advertisers fall short. Here is the framework we use.

Each sitelink should serve a different intent

The most effective sitelink sets contain four to six links that each speak to a different type of searcher. Think about the different people who might search for your product or service and what they each need to see before they convert.

For a Google Ads management agency the breakdown might look like this. The searcher who is ready to hire needs a path to get in touch. The searcher who wants proof needs to see results. The searcher who is comparing options needs to see services and pricing. The searcher who is researching the agency needs to understand who is behind it.

One sitelink for each of those intents means every type of searcher finds something relevant to where they are in their decision.

Use the 25 characters intentionally

Twenty-five characters is not much but it is enough to be specific and action-oriented if you use it deliberately. The single biggest improvement most advertisers can make to their sitelinks is replacing vague labels with specific ones.

Compare these two sets of sitelinks for the same business:

Vague: "Services" / "About" / "Contact" / "Blog"

Specific: "Google Ads Management" / "View Client Results" / "Free Ad Review" / "Meet the Team"

The second set tells a searcher something useful. The first set tells them nothing they could not figure out from any website in the world.

Write descriptions that support the link text

If you add description lines to your sitelinks, use them to give the searcher one more reason to click that specific link rather than restating what the link text already says.

If your sitelink text says "Free Ad Account Review" the description should not say "Get a free ad account review." It should say something like "For accounts spending $2,500 or more" and "We find what your current setup is missing." The description adds information. It does not echo the headline.

Match sitelinks to the campaign theme

A sitelink that makes sense for a branded campaign may not make sense for a competitor campaign or a product-specific campaign. Review your sitelinks at the campaign level and ask whether each one is genuinely relevant to the search intent that campaign is targeting.

A campaign targeting "Google Ads management for e-commerce" should have sitelinks like "Shopify GA4 Setup," "E-commerce Case Studies," and "Google Shopping Management." A branded campaign for your agency should have sitelinks like "Meet the Team," "View All Services," and "Read Client Reviews."

Refresh sitelinks when your offer changes

Sitelinks that reference promotions, seasonal offers, or time-sensitive pages need to be updated when those offers change. A sitelink pointing to a page that no longer exists or references an expired offer hurts your Quality Score and wastes the searcher's click.

Build a habit of reviewing your sitelinks whenever you update your website or change an offer. It takes five minutes and prevents the kind of silent performance drag that goes unnoticed for months.

Common Sitelink Mistakes That Limit Performance

These mistakes appear in the majority of Google Ads accounts we audit. Most of them are invisible in the standard campaign view, which is exactly why they persist.

Using homepage URLs for every sitelink

This is the most common sitelink mistake and one of the most damaging. Every sitelink points to the homepage regardless of what the link text says. A sitelink that says "View Pricing" but sends the searcher to the homepage forces them to find the pricing page themselves. Most will not bother.

Every sitelink should send the searcher to a page that directly fulfills the promise of the link text. If the page does not exist yet, either create it or choose a different sitelink. Sending people to the homepage from a specific sitelink is worse than not having that sitelink at all because it creates a mismatch between expectation and experience.

Writing vague or generic link text

"Services," "About," "Contact," and "Blog" are the four most common sitelink labels in Google Ads and the four least compelling ones. They communicate nothing specific and give the searcher no reason to click one over another.

Every sitelink label should tell the searcher something useful in the fewest possible characters. What will they find when they click? What is the specific benefit? What action are they taking? Answer one of those questions in 25 characters and your sitelink immediately outperforms the generic alternatives.

Adding sitelinks but skipping descriptions

Description lines are optional so most advertisers skip them. That is a mistake for any campaign where your ad has enough Ad Rank to show the expanded format. Descriptions increase the visual footprint of your ad, give searchers more information to self-qualify, and reduce the likelihood of a click that was never going to convert.

The two minutes it takes to write description lines for each sitelink is one of the highest-return time investments in Google Ads account management.

Using the same sitelinks across every campaign

Account-level sitelinks are efficient but they should only contain links that are genuinely relevant to every campaign in your account. When advertisers apply the same sitelink set to a branded campaign, a competitor campaign, a product campaign, and a service campaign simultaneously, the result is sitelinks that are partially relevant at best and actively misleading at worst.

Build campaign-level sitelinks that reflect the specific intent of each campaign. Reserve account-level sitelinks for truly universal links that add value in any context.

Never reviewing sitelink performance

Google shows you individual performance data for every sitelink in your account: impressions, clicks, and CTR broken down by link. Most advertisers set up their sitelinks and never look at this data again.

Reviewing sitelink performance monthly tells you which links searchers find compelling and which they ignore. A sitelink with hundreds of impressions and zero clicks is either irrelevant to the audience, written too vaguely, or pointing to a page that does not match the link text. Each of those problems has a straightforward fix, but only if you know the problem exists.

Pointing sitelinks to broken or low-quality pages

A sitelink that leads to a 404 error page, a page that loads slowly, or a page with content that does not match the link text will hurt your Quality Score and waste the searcher's click. Google tracks what happens after someone clicks your sitelink, and landing page experience is a factor in whether your sitelinks continue to show.

Audit your sitelink destination URLs quarterly, especially after website updates or page restructuring. A broken sitelink link is easy to miss in the Google Ads interface but immediately obvious to every searcher who clicks it.

Not adding enough sitelinks

Google needs at least two sitelinks to show any, but two is the minimum not the target. With only two sitelinks Google has almost no flexibility to match the most relevant link to each specific search query. With six sitelinks Google can choose the combination most likely to resonate with each individual searcher.

Always build toward six active sitelinks per campaign. If you cannot think of six relevant pages to link to, that is a signal that your website may be missing content your audience is looking for.

How Buddylytics Approaches Sitelinks for Our Clients

Sitelinks are one of the first things we review when auditing a new Google Ads account. In our experience most accounts fall into one of two categories: no sitelinks at all, or sitelinks that were set up once, pointed to generic pages, and never touched again. Both situations represent meaningful lost performance that is straightforward to fix.

At Buddylytics we treat sitelinks as an extension of your ad copy strategy rather than a checkbox to tick in the campaign setup. Every sitelink we write is designed to speak to a specific type of searcher, point to a page that delivers on the promise of the link text, and contribute to the overall conversion path rather than just filling space beneath the headline.

Here is what that looks like in practice across some of the clients we work with.

AutoFrance, a multi-million dollar automotive company, operates in a paid search environment where every element of the ad needs to work as hard as possible. Coordinated sitelink strategy across their Google and Meta campaigns, paired with tight ad copy and proper analytics attribution, contributed to a 32x ROAS on Google, 25% year-over-year revenue growth, and a 10% increase in market share.

BloomsyBox, a national flower subscription brand, needed their sitelinks to reflect the different buying intents of their audience: gift buyers, subscription shoppers, and corporate clients each needed a different path into the site. As part of a full paid media rebuild across Google, Meta, and Microsoft Ads, we restructured their ad assets including sitelinks to better serve each audience segment. The result was over $7 million in revenue generated and a peak Meta ROAS of 649%.

Infamous Productions, a wedding photography business entering the competitive Cocoa Beach market, needed their Google Ads to compete against established photographers with significantly larger budgets. Well-crafted sitelinks pointing to specific galleries, pricing pages, and booking forms gave their ads a professional footprint that matched larger competitors visually while their targeting did the work of reaching the right audience. They reached a 5x peak ROAS and $20,000 or more in monthly revenue at peak on just $2,000 to $3,000 in monthly ad spend.

Across every one of these accounts sitelinks were not an afterthought. They were part of the ad strategy from the start, reviewed regularly, and updated when offers, pages, or audience intent shifted.

Most of our clients run campaigns across multiple channels. We manage Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Ads, and analytics together so the strategy stays connected and every asset including sitelinks is pulling in the same direction.

If you are already spending $2,500 or more per month on Google Ads and want to know whether your sitelinks and other ad assets are set up to perform, fill out our contact form for a free ad copy assessment. We will take a look at what you have, identify the gaps, and show you specifically what we would do differently.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Google Ads Sitelinks

How many sitelinks should I add to my Google Ads campaign?

Aim for at least four and ideally six. Google requires a minimum of two to show any sitelinks at all, but with only two you give Google very little flexibility to match the most relevant link to each search query. Six sitelinks gives Google enough options to find the best combination for different searchers and different queries, which increases both the frequency your sitelinks appear and the relevance of the ones that do.

Do sitelinks cost extra to add?

No. Adding sitelinks to your Google Ads campaigns is free. You only pay when someone clicks a sitelink, and that click is charged at the same CPC rate as a click on your main ad headline. You will not be charged twice if someone sees your sitelinks and clicks your main headline, and you will not be charged for impressions where sitelinks appear but are not clicked.

Why are my sitelinks not showing?

The most common reasons are low Ad Rank, too few sitelinks configured, or sitelinks that Google considers irrelevant to the search query triggering your ad. Start by checking that you have at least four active sitelinks and that they point to live, relevant pages. Then review your Quality Score for the campaign since Ad Rank needs to meet a minimum threshold before Google will show the expanded ad format that includes sitelinks.

Can I add sitelinks to Performance Max campaigns?

Yes. Sitelinks are supported in Performance Max campaigns and can be added through the Assets section of your campaign. However Performance Max gives Google significantly more control over when and how assets are shown compared to standard Search campaigns, so you have less direct control over sitelink display frequency.

What is the difference between sitelinks and other Google Ads extensions?

Sitelinks are one type of asset in Google Ads. Other asset types include callouts which are short non-clickable phrases that highlight features or offers, structured snippets which list specific products or services, call assets which display your phone number, and lead form assets which embed a form directly in the ad. Each serves a different purpose and they can all run simultaneously. Sitelinks are unique in that they give each searcher a direct path to a specific page, making them the most impactful asset type for accounts with multiple distinct audience segments or offers.

Should I use the same sitelinks for mobile and desktop?

You can use the same sitelinks but be aware that mobile shows fewer of them, typically two to four compared to up to six on desktop. Because of this, the order of your sitelinks matters more for mobile users. Google generally shows the first sitelinks in your list when display space is limited, so make sure your most important and highest-converting sitelinks appear first. Keep mobile sitelink text shorter where possible since character display can be more limited on smaller screens.

How do I know which sitelinks are performing best?

In your Google Ads account go to the campaign or ad group where your sitelinks are running, click Assets in the left navigation menu, and filter by sitelink type. Google shows impressions, clicks, and CTR for each individual sitelink. Sort by clicks or CTR to quickly identify your top performers and your underperformers. Sitelinks with high impressions and low CTR are candidates for rewriting. Sitelinks with low impressions may not be relevant enough to the queries triggering your ads.

Can sitelinks improve my Quality Score?

Sitelinks do not directly determine Quality Score, which is calculated based on expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. However sitelinks influence Quality Score indirectly. Relevant sitelinks improve your expected CTR by giving searchers more reasons to click and more paths into your site. Higher CTR signals to Google that your ad is relevant to the searcher's query, which over time contributes to a better Quality Score and lower cost per click.

H2: Sitelinks Are Free Real Estate. Use Them.

Every Google Ads account gets access to sitelinks at no additional cost. They take up more space on the page, give searchers multiple paths into your business, and increase the likelihood that the right person finds exactly what they are looking for before they click. There is no downside to having them and no good reason not to.

The accounts that consistently outperform their competitors in paid search are rarely doing something dramatically different. They are executing the fundamentals better. Tighter ad copy. More relevant keywords. And ad assets like sitelinks that are written with intent, pointed at the right pages, and reviewed regularly based on actual performance data.

If your current sitelinks are pointed at your homepage, written with generic labels, or have not been reviewed since the day you set them up, that is costing you performance you are already paying for.

Everything in this guide gives you what you need to fix that: how sitelinks work, how Google decides when to show them, how to set them up correctly, how to write them so they get clicked, and the mistakes to avoid. The only thing left is to go into your account and do it.

If you are spending $2,500 or more per month on Google Ads and want a second set of eyes on your sitelinks and overall ad asset setup, fill out our contact form for a free ad copy assessment. We will review what you have, show you what is working, and tell you exactly what we would change.

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