AdWords Sitelinks have proven themselves a valuable tool in improving click through rate.  Many times CTR on ads with active sitelinks is double or more, that of ads in the same position without sitelinks.   While I find that the ads with sitelinks often receive much higher CTR, I see when reviewing data in the AdWords User Interface that many times the actual sitelinks are not clicked, instead the more traditional title link is clicked.

The screenshot above compares the overall CTR of the campaign, the CTR of the ads with sitelinks included, and the CTR of the actual sitelinks themselves.  As the screenshot shows in this case the sitelinks were not used very often.  The CTR of the ads when the sitelinks are shown is substantially higher than when the sitelinks are not shown.  This increased CTR could be attributed to the ads positioning as the sitelinks will only show in the top positions above organic results which generally elicits higher CTR’s so keep that in mind when evaluating data so that you compare sitelink ads to ads in similar positioning.

Data shows that just seeing additional messages has a positive effect on CTR for most advertisers.  Why the sitelinks themselves are not clicked more often I cannot say for sure.  It might be that many people are not yet aware that these links are clickable.  Regardless, the data should still be tracked and evaluated as sitelinks are likely here to stay and as they dig in they will be more widely recognized and used.

Understanding Sitelinks

What are Sitelinks?

AdWords sitelinks are additional links that appear with your text ads.  They can appear as a listed format including multiple lines or a single line of links.

To Qualify

To be eligible for sitelinks to run with your ads you must first meet the following criteria:

1. Your ad must be positioned in the top sponsored results (above organic listings)
2. You should have a high Quality Scores.
3. Your sitelinks URLs take visitors to the main website, as in the same top level domain as your ad’s display and destination URL.

Why Sitelinks Work

1. Expand your message.  Use your sitelinks to include extra messages about services, offers, and more.
2. Take up more real estate on the search results page.  Your ads are more visually noticeable and attract more attention which generally results in higher CTR.
3. Take visitors to specific landing pages with specific sitelink destination URL’s.  When people click one of your sitelinks they are taken to your website and the specific URL you designate for that sitelink.
4. Give your visitors direction.  Offer your potential site visitors options to help them find the products/services they desire when they use general/generic search terms.

Sitelink Formats

Sitelinks appear under text ads on Google.com, in two formats:

One line format

One line Ad Sitelinks provide for more general targeting with your ads and keywords, but on some occasions may also include brand terms.

Two line format

Two line sitelinks are designed to trigger in situations where an ad provides the ideal answer for a search query. These ads are most likely to trigger on unique brand terms.

How Many Links Show?

You can create up to 10 sitelinks but no more than 4 will be displayed at one time for ads that qualify. Google’s algorithm will determine what site links will appear with the search result.  If you prefer some control over what links appear with your ads then I suggest creating only 4 sitelinks for any given campaign.

Planning for Sitelink Implementation

Sitelinks can be used to send a variety of messages, a few examples are:

• General messages:  about us – Our Products – Coupons
• speak to a categories of products: Lotion – Diapers – Strollers – Cribs
• speak to an individual subcategory of your products/services: Umbrella Strollers – Single Strollers – Double Strollers – Triple Strollers

Sitelinks are a campaign level setting so be very sure that the message you send via sitelinks is appropriate for every ad group in the campaign.  You may be restricted in your sitelink messages based on your account structure, finding you are forced to stick with more general sitelinks that work for every ad group in the campaign.    There are times that you may want to test if sitelinks will provide better performance from your Adwords account.  By better performance I don’t just mean better CTR, I mean better overall performance and return on investment. Testing is always a good idea,  to identify potential areas of improvement and sitelink messages are a great testing idea.   For example, if this baby product advertiser (sitelink examples above) wanted to really push their strollers, they may consider separating strollers into its own test campaign.  This would allow them to create a powerful sitelink message specific to strollers that included brand terms to see what brand drew the most attention on a general term like ‘baby strollers’:   Graco  – Chicco  -  Britax  – Baby Trend.

It needs to be determined if creating additional campaigns to test sitelinks is worth the extra work and if your budget will support an additional campaign(s).  I do not suggest that advertisers start pulling their entire accounts apart to test sitelinks as account history can be negatively affected by large structural account changes.  However, small controlled tests are always a good idea and if you see the effect you are looking for with a certain segment of your account it may give you data to support further testing.

Implementing Sitelinks

To implement sitelinks visit the Ad Extensions tab.

If you do not see the ad extensions tab see the screenshot below.

Once you are on the ad extensions tab select sitelinks from the drop-down.

Then click + new extension.

The sitelink section will load.

Before you get started actually creating your sitelinks read on, below is important info on creating custom destination URL’s to identify and track your sitelinks.

Tracking Sitelink Data

Performance data on sitelinks is limited in the AdWords user interface.  Currently advertisers can see the following metrics:

Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Average Cost per Click and Average position.  This data can be reviewed under the Ad Extensions tab that we discussed in the section above, or by segmenting your data on the Campaigns or Ad Groups tab by ‘Click Type’.

It is helpful to see the data in the AdWords UI but it is limited and leaves us asking for more.

By coding your sitelink destination url’s and using an Analytics program, such as Google Analytics to track goals, it is easy to collect the data you need to evaluate your sitelinks performance.

Tagging Sitelink URL’s for Tracking

Tagging your sitelinks destination url’s with specific parameters allows you to identify and gather performance data such as what specific sitelink was clicked, time spent on the landing page, bounce and exit rates, if a conversion occurred (setup goals), if revenue was generated (when ecommerce is tracked), and more.  To collect this data we code the destination URL with specific tracking parameters and to collect and review this data we go to Google Analytics.

What Parameters to Include?

The list below contains custom parameters as well as some {value track} parameters that collect and pass data to your analytic program.  This link contains the full list of value track parameters.  I suggest that you review and identify if any of these value track parameters would be of use to you personally.- http://goo.gl/cDm2l

These are a good set of parameters to start with:

• origin=sitelink – this parameter identifies traffic generated via a sitelink.
• campaign=campaignname – This parameter identifies the campaign that generated the traffic. Important note: replace text ‘campaign name’ with a name to identify YOUR AdWords campaign.
• {copy:adgroupid} – This parameter identifies the ad group that generated the sitelink traffic and the data will populate with the ad group id.
• sitelinkname=identifythespecificitelink – This parameter identifies the specific sitelink that generated the traffic. Important note: replace text ‘identifythespecificsitelink’ with a name that identifies the specific sitelink i.e. sitelinkname=aboutus, sitelinkname=strollers.
• keyword={keyword} – This parameter identifies the keyword from your AdWords account that generated the traffic.
• matchtype={matchtype} – This parameter identifies the match type that triggered the visit, data will populate with an “e” for exact match,  “p” for phrase match, and “b” for broad match.

Again, there is a larger list of parameters that you can use to collect data and you can create your own custom parameters.  Identify and collect what is important for your own analysis.

Building your Custom Destination URL

To build your new destination URL start with your website destination URL:

Example: http://adwordshelpexperts.com - if your destination URL is an internal page, instead of the home page that is fine, use whatever is the most appropriate destination URL for the advertising directive, we will add from there.

To add your first parameter you are going to include a ?  between the URL and the parameter.  For each additional parameter you are going to separate the parameters with a & symbol.  The language you are creating is to track a specific parameter and other parameters.

Example of a completed sitelink URL:

http://www.adwordshelpexperts.com?origin=sitelink&campaign=babystrollers&{copy:adgroupid}&sitelinkname=graco&keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}

Before implementing your sitelinks I suggest that they be tested to see that they are not receiving any browser errors.  Copy and paste the customized destination URL into a browser and confirm that the link is working properly.  Then implement the sitelink in AdWords.

Segmenting and Reviewing your Sitelink Performance in Google Analytics through Custom Filters.

Now that you have planned, created, tested and implemented your custom sitelink destination URL’s it is time to learn how to segment and review your data.  This process outlines how to do this in Google Analytics but the concept is the same across any analytics program – segment out this data through filters.

An easy way to do this via Google Analytics run a Top Content report, then filter the report to contain data you would like to see.  For example, I often collect all the sitelink data by filtering on the origin=sitelink parameter as all the sitelinks are coded with this parameter for identification purposes.  I can then further filter this data by campaign, adgroup, etc.

Evaluate

Dig into the sitelink performance data from the AdWords interface as well as this Analytics data to get a better understanding of what these additional messages mean to visitors.   Evaluate visitors on-site behavior via sitelinks, and review if the sitelink traffic is generating leads, revenue, awareness, etc., and make adjustments as necessary to improve performance.

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Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service  a  Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

Norton Anti Virus showing for "free polling software"

Norton (Norton Antivirus) has an ad being served for the search query “free polling software” but Norton does not offer polling software.

This is a great example of the importance of Negative Keywords.  If Norton is appearing #4 then I am sure this is not the first time they appeared in error, maybe it is some strange marketing tatic, but I doubt it.  I think it is just a simple case of a broad match keyword gone haywire.

How Could this Happen?

This happens when advertisers use broad or “phrase” match keywords because these types of keyword matching options will allow for the keyword to ‘expand’ to other relevant keywords.  For instance ‘ballet shoes’ could expand to ‘red ballet shoes’, ‘mens ballet shoes’, ‘adult ballet shoes’, ‘used ballet shoes’, ‘size 13 ballet shoes’ and many others.

Why Should Norton Care?

Two reasons:

• first they are receiving impressions for search queries that are irrelevant to their product which lowers their CTR and diminishes quality.
• Second, people may actually be curious enough to click on their ads costing Norton needless expense.  When I saw the name Norton on the results page I was instantly intrigued thinking that Norton offered some kind of free polling software.  I would be more than happy to go with a trusted name like Norton…however they do not offer polling software – only virus protection on the landing page.

What Can Norton do to Prevent This from Happening Again?

Simply add a negative keyword -polling, to the campaign level and it would help prevent the ads from appearing anytime ‘polling’ is included in the search query.

How can you make sure this does not happen to you?

Run a Search Query Performance Report regularly to identify negative keywords to add to your account.  It is also a great source of identifying and adding new keywords.

Running a Search Query Performance Report

Special Note: The purpose of this article was not to pick on anyone managing Norton’s account.  This happens to the best of us, maybe the account is new, maybe they added a new keyword that they have not reviewed yet.  The point of the blog post is Negative Keywords are important and it is important to stay on-top of discovering and adding them to your account, it is a never ending process.
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Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service  a  Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

AdWords offers several keyword matching options.  These keyword matching options allow you greater control over what search queries result in your ads appearing.  The article below explains keyword match types and what you as an advertiser can do to get the most out of your keywords, control your costs and maintain your AdWords account quality.

The Types of Keyword Matching Options are:

1.  Broad – allows other keywords to be included or relevant keywords (as deemed by Google) to be substituted.  Disneyland vacation = Disneyland park tickets

2.  “Phrase” – allows the keyword to be shown in the phrase order i.e. “red shoes” with terms before or after the phrase.  ”red shoes” can = “girls ‘red shoes’ size 3″

3.  [Exact] – allows your ads to show only on the exact keyword specified.  [banana nut bread recipe] = [banana nut bread recipe]

4.  –Negative – will restrict your ads from appearing for the –negative keyword. i.e. “red shoes” with a negative –kids prevents the ads from appearing for “kids red shoes”.  Negative Keywords can be included in Broad, Phrase and Exact Match Types.

As explained above, Broad Match keywords are extremely flexible.  ”Phrase Match” will tighten down the keywords further by keeping your phrase in-tact and [Exact Match] is the most restrictive keyword match type because it will only allow your ads to be served if the search query exactly matches the search query.  While exact match may sound ideal, many advertisers find it difficult to work specifically with exact match keywords because it is difficult to think of each and every search query that their potential customers will use.  The possibility of missing out of potential traffic makes phrase and broad match keywords valuable. While broad and phrase allow the potential to appear for search queries that are not relevant to your products or service there is a way to combat that with the use of Negative Keywords.

How do I know when my ads are appearing for irrelevant search queries and who do I identify negative keywords to add?

Run and analyze the Search Query Report from your Reports Center. This report will provide you with the search queries that resulted in your ads being clicked.  You can use this report to identify keywords that are irrelevant as well as use it to find new keywords to add to your account.

Here is an example:

Your Keyword: dance shoes

Search Query Report identifies a click for: ballroom dancing shoes

So, you have identified through your Search Query Report that you are appearing under the search query ‘ballroom dancing shoes’ but you do not sell ‘ballroom dancing’ shoes.  In this case adding a negative keyword -ballroom will prevent your ads from appearing when the word ‘ballroom’ is included. Learn more about  How Negative Keywords can have a Positive Impact and how to add negative keywords to your account.

I have identified irrelevant search queries, now what do I do to prevent my ads from appearing next time?

Add negative keywords or change your match option to a more restrictive match type.  Changing your match type is not always an option because it can often lower your traffic too much.  This is where negative keyword are so helpful.  Negative keywords will prevent your ads from appearing for irrelevant searches.

The various keyword matching options allow advertisers to create an effective keyword list.  Learn more about how “Negative Keywords can have a Positive Effect on your Bottom Line”.

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Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service  a  Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter

Negative = Positive

If your keyword list contains broad or phrase match keywords then negative keywords are most often a must. Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing and potentially receiving clicks from search queries that are not relevant to your product or service. Suppressing impressions (and clicks) from irrelevant search queries will improve your CTR and quality score and allow your keyword list to work harder to bring qualified prospects to your website.

AdWords Offers the Following Negative Match types:

Negative Broad Matched – To create a standard negative keyword, insert a minus sign before a keyword and add it to your ad group or campaign.

Example: -free download

Adding this negative keyword to your account would prevent your ads from showing on any search queries containing the terms free and download Your ads still have the potential to appear for variations of these terms. Your ads will also still show on search queries that only contain one of the terms.

For example, the search queries software download and free software could trigger your ads, while free software download will not.

Negative “Phrase” Matched - To create a negative phrase matched keyword surround the term with quotation marks.

Example: -”free download“

Adding this keyword the system wouldn’t let any search query containing the phrase free download trigger your ads. The search query free download accounting software would not trigger your ads. However, your ads could possibly show on the search query download accounting software or free accounting software.

Negative [Exact] Matched – To create a negative exact matched keyword surround the term with brackets

Example: -[free download]

This negative keyword would only prevent your ads from showing on the search query free download. Search queries such as free accounting software download and free software could still trigger your ads.

It is suggested to add relevant variations of your negative keywords, including both the singular and plural forms. Learn to add effective negative keywords to your ad group or campaign.

Now that we have some familiarity with negative keyword match types the next question is how do we identify negatives to add to the account? AdWords offers two tools to identify negative keywords.

1. search query report.

The search query report is a very helpful report to identifying negative keywords. This report will show advertisers what the actual query was that resulted in their ads being served. You can use this report to identify negative keyword to add to your account.

2. Keyword Tool.

The keyword tool can be used to identify negative keywords.

Select and include your negative keyword.

Adding Negative keywords is easy. They can be added at the campaign level to cover all adgroups or at the ad group level if the negative keywords are specific to one category.   Google has even recently added the ability to create negative keyword lists so that advertisers can easily create master keyword lists that can be attached to adgroups or campaigns.

Research your Search Query Reports regularly to identify negative keywords. Negative keywords will improve your CTR and preserve your budget by showing your ads to only the best prospects for business.

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Article by:  +Kim Clinkunbroomer Clinks Web Service  a  Google AdWords Partner Company Subscribe: RSS Feeds  |  Follow me on Twitter