Several factors impact the results ranking on the SERP, and rich sitelinks are one of them. Web admins are therefore learning the dynamics of sitelinks to leave a strong impact on their audience base.
These hyperlinks enable users to reach the crucial pages of your website and dive deeper into a variety of content. It allows your users to navigate web pages and permeates the uniform flow of authoritative juices among the content.
Our reliable and professional team of SEO analysts at Authority Magnet can walk you through this intricate process of gaining site links.
What is Sitelinks?
When you enter a website name in the search bar, the first search engine result page shows a list of top-ranking links. The first search result often has link clusters that guide a user to different pages of the same website.
For instance, if you search for Tesla, the SERP will display the official website, followed by several links that direct you to different pages featuring varied car models on the same website. In short, users get an added range of navigation options to assess more categorical content regarding their search query.
These additional links that appear beneath the main URL for a brand are called sitelinks. In brief, sitelinks are the ones that link to other pages or the section of a page that appears under specific Google search results.
With this 2006 official Google update, users can easily navigate a website and find relevant information for their search intent. This gets easier with the automated navigation support Google offers.
Besides the cluster of shortcut hyperlinks, search engines often take their searchers directly to a highlighted section on the website.
According to Google: ‘Sitelinks are links from the same domain that are clustered together under a web result. 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.‘
Types of Sitelinks
Search engines like Google are redefining the ways web entrepreneurs are using sitelinks. Over the years, Google has changed the sitelink regulations and how many links can a web owner display on the search results page.
Multiple images, carousels, or even outlines of particular posts make up the majority of digital real estate on the SERP. These types of virtual and written content links make up a sitelink.
Here are a few essential types of sitelinks:
1. Paid Sitelinks
These are sitelink extensions that can appear as advertising or paid search results. Content marketers can easily regulate the text and URLs that appear as paid sitelinks. In contrast, organic sitelinks solely rest on the Google algorithm, which determines the content and the link.
2. Organic Sitelinks
Brand names with high search volumes generally have up to 6 organic sitelinks. The links help users to visit subpages under the same webpage.
Note: Search engines like Google generate organic sitelinks only for top-ranking search results.
3. Organic One-line Sitelinks
Many search results have one-line sitelinks under the main URL. These sitelinks have up to 4 one-line links that will take you either to different web pages of the site or jump to a specific portion of the same content.
Some other content may also display a variation in the one-line sitelink carousels. Click on the carousel link, and the server will take you to the desired page.
4. Organic Sitelinks Search Box
Not all search results have only a set of links, but some have a search box that allows you to look for specific terms and find relevant pages. If your website has greater domain authority, Google will automatically add a sitelink search box to your website.
Exploit this opportunity by adding a sitelinks search box on your structured data. It will enable Google to understand the context better and deploy better search facilities on the search results page.
Benefits of Sitelinks
A growing number of web admins are resorting to sitelinks.
But why?
Here are the reasons why sitelinks are helping online businesses gain more ground and occupy searchable digital real estate on the SERP.
1. Increases Click Through Rate
Most surfers who click on your sitelinks are already familiar with your brand. Your brand sitelinks appear for searches because Google understands the surfer is interested in your brand.
It increases your click-through rates as your audience base continues to visit internal pages which match their search query.
2. Boosts Traffic to Internal Pages
When you get essential web pages as sitelinks, it reaps the most SEO benefits. Besides enabling smart navigation, sitelinks of internal pages convert most audiences into customers.
3. Attracts More Customers
Sitelinks offer more information about your company, products, and services. More brand information will bring more customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, sitelinks make your brand listing appear more appealing and trustworthy to your customers.
How to Get Sitelinks?
Sitelinks are automated and can only be procured through quality content adhering to Google’s standard ranking practices. Moreover, Google does not have any predetermined rules using which you can get sitelinks.
So, how to get sitelinks?
With a well-maintained website and following the steps below, you can acquire site links and reduce your website’s bounce rate:
1. Be Unique With Brand Name
The first step to paving the way for getting sitelinks is naming your brand correctly. You can get creative with the brand name and discard every generic term.
For example, you own a retail clothing store and have called it ‘The Clothes’. A generic brand name like this will make it difficult for you to rank higher on the SERP.
Therefore, opt for something unique that resonates with your brand. It instantly tells the search bots about your website whenever a user enters the name.
For instance, look at brand names like Adidas and Toyota. The former is a prominent name in the sports world, while the latter is another significant entity in the automobile industry.
Therefore, whenever a user enters Adidas, the search bot knows to which website its algorithm should direct users.
There are exceptions when generic brand names have soared high in the SERP and attained deserving sitelinks. Consider Apple as an example.
According to blogging wizard, Google knows people are searching for the company, not the fruit when they enter Apple in the search bar.
In a nutshell, Apple managed to establish dominating brand visibility despite a generic company title. However, most small companies might not be able to do the same, and thus choosing a unique name is the only way to handle this requirement.
2. Add Structured Data
Investing time in preparing structured data. The structured data helps Google understand the content’s context and overall website architecture clearly.
Though structured data or schema is popularly associated with rich snippets, you can use it to increase your chances of getting sitelinks.
Add codes in the structured data to inform Google of priority pages. Within the structured data, point out the type of your about page and contact section, enable breadcrumbs, and include a sitelink search box.
There are multiple plugins available on CMSs like WordPress. Plugins like Schema Pro help you set up all types of articles using their tech wizardry.
3. Optimize Web Architecture
Google prefers websites with a clear and navigational structure that maintains a coherent hierarchy. That way, the search engine crawlers can easily browse your website.
For Google to index all your pages correctly, the search bots must understand the position of each web page with the other. It makes things easier for search engines to provide your brand URL with a cluster of relative sitelinks.
Note: Keep your ‘homepage’ as the root of your website structure.
Why?
The homepage is the most-visited webpage of a brand’s website. A prospective user begins their navigation from the homepage.
Therefore, it should be local, intuitive, and have a well-organized setting.
Suppose you sell books. Then organize your homepage in this way:
Home — Best Sellers — Genre — Fiction — Price Range — Books
That way, the user and the crawler can navigate from one page to the other and trace their path back. For a better user experience, incorporate pages like About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, and more.
4. Aim For Rank #1 on SERP
According to common SEO knowledge, pages securing the first position on the search results get sitelinks from Google. Not even the result second in line will get sitelinks.
In brief, Google will provide sitelinks to a website with the most brand visibility and domain authority for specific search terms.
Therefore, optimize your content with on-page and off-page SEO strategies. That way, the overall SEO performance can push you to a few spots upward on the results page.
Note: Consistency in your SEO efforts can help you achieve the 1st rank on SERP in the long run.
5. Build Interlinks
A website is well-optimgized if it has an efficient interlinking network. Your linking game should be spot-on so that Google bots can determine which web pages are essential.
For instance, you run a gardening business. Every blog focuses on gardening techniques clients can use while planting a sapling. Add an internal link to the products page where you sell various gardening equipment.
It tells Google that repetitive linking to the products page means you want your audience to visit it more often.
Further on, internal links are portals that crawlers use to jump from one page to the other. This way, the bots get an idea of what your website is about and determine if users are browsing for longer.
Track your internal links using Google Webmaster Tool. Log into your dashboard and click on the option stating internal links.
Note: Internal linking is another ranking factor that Google prioritizes. It increases your user dwell time and signals to the search engine that users like what they see.
Emphasize the link-building feature to soar high on SERP and increase your chances of getting more sitelinks. Expert link builders can help you create a robust link profile.
6. Add a Sitemap
A website map helps potential customers and crawlers to move around the website more easily.
How does it help?
Sitemaps increase your website coverage and highlight the crucial pages of your website. In addition, a well-structured sitemap enables customers to navigate freely, creating opportunities for sustainable organic traffic.
And Google favours those who give special attention to search satisfaction and organic traffic attempts.
Regulate and monitor this aspect by adding a sitemap.xml file to Google Search Console following these steps:
- Log into your account at Google Search Console.
- Click on your website and find the option ‘sitelink’ on the dashboard.
- Next, select ‘Add/Test Sitemap’ at the right-hand corner of the screen.
- Add your website address in the pop-up box and hit submit.
With WordPress, you can use All in One SEO or Yoast SEO plugins. They have sitemap facilities built in them.
Seek professional assistance from agencies like Authority Magnet to deploy carefully curated content and take care of the additional features for an impactful SEO result.
7. Enhance Your Brand Awareness
The chances of obtaining sitelinks depend on your brand reputation.
The former web spam head of Google, Matt Cutts, says, ‘Make sure that enough people know about your website. You want to be a reputable website and you want people to find out about your website because we don’t do it for every single query.’
In a nutshell, raise awareness about your company, its services and products, and professional achievements among the community. Several ways to boost brand reputation include guest posting, social media engagement, posting client feedback, or conducting a survey.
Among these, guest blogging is one effective venture where you can expose your services to a wide audience range. Ensure you write for a reliable external website with an interactive visitor database and higher domain authority.
Use free popular marketplace platforms to launch your new products or make free tools accessible to your prospective audience. These activities fetch your website credit.
Conclusion
To survive the cut-throat competition in digital marketing, every webpreneur aims to attract more audiences with fresh and updated content. A well-optimized article with sufficient keyword density always has the potential to climb higher on the SERP.
The higher you rise on the search results page, the more preference Google will give you. It further establishes the audience’s trust in you, and eventually, you get the sitelinks.
These shortcut link services will draw more traffic and boost your fanfare.
Using these techniques, aim to procure as many site links as possible. Focus on making your web architecture easy to navigate. That would help the user and the search engine algorithm to understand how your website functions.
However, it might seem impossible to reach such goals without expert help. Contact Authority Magnet to leverage impactful methods that bear positive and long-lasting results.
