How to Increase Your CTR with Google’s New Ad Sitelinks
Want to increase your campaign’s Click Through Rate (CTR)? Along with continually testing ad copy, try one of Google’s newest beta offerings for paid search advertisers, Ad Sitelinks. Similar to the natural search Sitelinks that have been appearing over the past year, now advertisers can include additional, more targeted links to their site in PPC ads.
Although they look like SEO Sitelinks, PPC Sitelinks are customizable so advertisers choose the title and the specific website link included below the ad. In contrast, SEO Sitelinks are chosen by the crawlers, so SEO Sitelink relevancy is at the mercy of the almighty Google.
Early industry results show a CTR increase of 30% to 40% for some advertisers, which can mean a major boost in traffic for the website. While Sitelinks are mainly appearing for branded keywords, they have also been popping up when keywords have a high Quality Score and appear in the top paid search position. Branded ads typically use generic messaging and send traffic to the homepage, because there’s no proven way to determine what the searcher is looking for at this stage in the buying cycle.
One of the best, most consistent examples of Ad Sitelinks I’ve found is for Staples. They make good use of the Sitelinks by incorporating both general links to the “Office Supplies” section of the site and promotions including “Save Big on Paper - $25 in Rewards,” sending searchers to a great promotional page.
OMA Case Study
Sitelinks were added to a transportation client’s campaign based on a Search Query Report and analytics showing the top searched keyword phrases and top pages visited. From these lists, five Sitelink titles and links were identified as generating a majority of the traffic, and were added under the Settings tab in Google AdWords.
While the campaign already had a favorable CTR of 12.4%, within the first week, the CTR bounced up to 18.4% (a 33% increase). By allowing additional entry points into the site for searchers looking for specific information, the ads were instantly more relevant and credible to searchers, and maximized the ad space on the search engine result page (SERP), which naturally attracts more interest.
Measuring Successful PPC Campaigns
Note that while having a high CTR is ideal, it is also important to review other metrics to ensure that the campaign continues to drive qualified traffic – generating a lot of unqualified traffic will in turn negatively impact your campaign. If the Bounce Rate increases or you see a decrease in Conversions, try switching out the current titles and links until you find the ideal mix.
SearchEngineLand released a great article in April 2010 showing some great examples of ways for Supercharging Your Ads with Google Sitelinks, including a list of examples, including:
- Seasonal & limited time promotions
- User segmentation
- Brand segmentation
- Most valuable pages
Kudos to Google with their latest smart business move. They’ve been adding in new Ad Extensions over the past year, with innovations such as Google Merchant Center Product and Locations integrations, but Ad Sitelink are something that a majority of advertisers, regardless of size or industry, can incorporate into their campaigns. Plus, this is an additional revenue stream for Google, because the higher the CTR, the more clicks accrued which translates into more money for Google. However, this is a win-win, because additional, qualified traffic to your site is the main reason for launching a paid search campaign in the first place!
About the Author: Ellen Stevens
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