As a website owner, you’ve probably noticed that some sites have additional links displayed under their main URL in Google search results. These additional links are known sitelinks.
While Google ultimately decides which sitelinks to display, there are several strategies you can employ to influence which links appear under your site on Google.
What are sitelinks?
Sitelinks are the indented links that appear beneath a website’s main listing in Google search results. They help users navigate your site more efficiently by directing them to key sections directly from the search results page.
Please note that users often see different sitelinks as Google determines what is best for the users based on the user’s search history, location, device and other factors.
How many sitelinks can you have?
Based on my observation, most of the sites have maximum 5 sitelinks on desktop and 6 sitelinks on mobile. However, Google will display less sitelinks if they don’t have any links that they deem useful for users.
For example, this is what I’ve seen when I search for Ahrefs on desktop and mobile:
How to control sitelinks in Google search results
Google’s algorithms automatically generate sitelinks based on the structure of your site and user behavior.
So, if you ask how to change the links that appear under your site on Google’, the short answer is – no, you can’t change it as it’s determined algorithmically.
While you can’t directly control which links should appear as sitelinks, you can still optimise your site to influence and increase the likelihood of your preferred sitelinks appearing.
1. Organise Your Site Structure
A clear and logical site structure is crucial to help Google understand your website architecture. Use categories, subcategories, and breadcrumbs to organise your content; and make sure every page is accessible within a few clicks from the homepage.
For your preferred pages for sitelinks, make sure they are prominently linked from your homepage and main navigation.
2. Improve internal linking
Create a well-structured internal linking strategy that highlights your most important pages. Make sure your preferred pages are linked the most, or least more than other non-priority pages.
For example, place them in the homepage, header navigation or footer area. This will increase the chance of them being selected as sitelinks.
Also, don’t forget to naturally and strategically link to your preferred pages from other content of your site.
Regularly audit your site to ensure all links are working and relevant. I usually use Screaming Frog to audit the internal linking because I can sort by the number of (unique) inlinks, so I can have a quick overview of what pages are being linked the most to see if I need to adjust anything.
3. Craft your anchor text
Use descriptive anchor text that clearly indicates the content of the linked page.
If your meta title is not accurate to Google’s eyes, they may determine your title using anchor text, heading element or other content that is large on the page. Google also uses anchor text that points to the page
So, even though it’s good to have anchor text variation, ensure your preferred page title is used often enough for Google to recognize its significance as your anchor text.
4. Optimise Page Titles and Descriptions
Make sure each page has a unique, descriptive title and meta description. Avoid duplication and ensure that these elements accurately reflect the content of the page.
It’s common for Google to take your meta title and description in the sitelinks, so make sure you have optimised it to avoid Google rewriting it and you ending up with some random texts on the SERPs.
5. Implement structured data (for search box only)
Sitelinks aren’t controlled by structured data, so there isn’t any schema markup that gives you control over which pages are showing up as sitelinks.
For example, SiteNavigationElement helps search engines understand your site structure, but it doesn’t directly contribute to the sitelink generation and most of the time you don’t need it to get sitelinks.
With that said, you can however use schema markup to show a search box through WebSite structured data by specifying a SearchAction. Users can then directly find information from your site directly on Google with this mini search bar and help direct users to relevant pages efficiently, and is particularly useful for e-commerce sites and giant websites.
How to address common issues in sitelinks
Missing Sitelinks
If no sitelinks are appearing, it may indicate that Google is having difficulty understanding your site structure. Ensure that your site is well-organised and that Google can easily crawl and index all your pages.
Irrelevant sitelinks
If irrelevant pages appear as sitelinks, review your internal linking strategy. Ensure that your most important pages are prominently linked from your homepage and main navigation.
Sitelinks pointing to outdated or removed content
If sitelinks are pointing to outdated or deprecated content, consider using 301 redirects to direct users to the updated pages. Update your internal links to reflect the changes.
If the content no longer exists or has no value to be indexed, consider also adding a noindex tag and request indexing in URL Inspection Tool – which will remove the page from Google index (and thus sitelink) sooner.
Sitelink title and/or description displaying incorrectly
As Google primarily uses the content on your page to determine the title and snippet, make sure your meta title and meta description match what’s on your page.
If Google believes that the title or description on a particular page does not effectively reflect the content, it will often rewrite it with its own version to better match user intent.
I recommend reading the following Google documentations:
Conclusion
While you can’t directly choose which links Google displays as sitelinks, optimizing your site structure, internal linking, page titles, and content can influence the outcome.
By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to improve your site’s visibility and user experience through effective sitelinks.
