How to Create and Use Sitelinks in Google Ads: Practical Steps, Pro Tips, and Tracking

What Are Sitelinks?

Sitelink assets are additional clickable links that can appear with eligible Google Ads formats, including Search and Performance Max ads. Each sitelink can direct the user to a specific page on your website instead of sending every click to the main landing page used by the ad.

For example, a user who sees an ad for an online store may be able to open the general product collection by clicking the main headline, or go directly to pages such as Women’s Clothing, Sale, Delivery Information, or Store Locations by clicking a sitelink.

This makes sitelinks different from assets such as callouts. A callout adds a short non-clickable statement to an ad, while a sitelink adds another destination that the user can open.

Sitelinks can simplify navigation by offering the user direct access to sections that are not represented by the primary landing page, including:

• Personal Account, About Us, Store Locations, and other informational sections.
• Specific products, services, categories, plans, or use cases.
• Pricing, booking, consultation, or contact pages.
• Trust-building pages such as Return Policy, Fast Delivery, Reviews, and Warranty.

Sitelinks can also strengthen the communication of an ad by allowing the advertiser to:

• Highlight trust-building pages — Return Policy, Fast Delivery, Reviews, and more.
• Display more product options — For Him, For Her, Unisex.
• Show different services or use cases — For Small Business, For Agencies, For Enterprise.
• Show pricing-related destinations — View Pricing, Special Deal, Sale Week.
• Provide a direct path to a conversion action — Book a Demo, Get a Quote, Find a Store.

In addition to their communication and navigation benefits, sitelinks can make the final ad format more prominent by increasing the amount of information displayed around the main ad. This can be particularly valuable on mobile devices, where an expanded ad may occupy a substantial part of the visible search results area.

However, creating a sitelink does not guarantee that it will appear with every impression. Google Ads determines whether sitelinks are eligible to show and which combination to display based on factors such as the query, predicted relevance, ad position, Ad Rank, device, available screen space, and expected performance.

Google may show only some of the eligible sitelinks. It may also show their descriptions in one auction but display only the link text in another. For this reason, every sitelink should make sense independently and should not depend on another sitelink being shown beside it.

Three Levels of Sitelinks in the Google Ads Account Hierarchy

Your sitelink assets can be associated at the account, campaign, or ad group level. The appropriate level depends on how broadly relevant each link is.

A useful rule is to move from general to specific:

• Use the account level for pages that are relevant to nearly every campaign.
• Use the campaign level for links related to a particular product group, service line, market, or campaign objective.
• Use the ad group level for the most precise links associated with a narrow search intent.

Account-level: Account-level sitelinks can be eligible across campaigns in the account. They are suitable for broadly relevant destinations such as Shipping, About Us, Reviews, Catalog, Contact Us, or My Account.

Account-level sitelinks are useful when the same supporting information applies to most products and services. However, they should not be treated as a universal default for every possible link. A generic account-level sitelink may be less useful in a highly specific campaign and may compete with more relevant campaign- or ad group-level options.

Campaign-level: Campaign-level sitelinks can be used across the ad groups within a particular campaign. They are well suited to category collections, related services, campaign-specific offers, regional pages, or destinations that share the same business objective.

For example, a campaign promoting running shoes might use campaign-level sitelinks such as Men’s Running Shoes, Women’s Running Shoes, Trail Running Shoes, and Running Shoe Sale. These links are more relevant than general account-level destinations but still apply to multiple ad groups inside the campaign.

Ad group-level: Ad group-level sitelinks are designed for the narrowest and most precise targeting. They can connect the user to individual products, subcategories, service variants, locations, or use cases that closely match the keywords and ads in that ad group.

For example, an ad group focused on waterproof trail shoes could use sitelinks such as Waterproof Men’s Shoes, Waterproof Women’s Shoes, Winter Trail Shoes, and Trail Shoe Size Guide.

The same logic applies outside e-commerce:

• Lead generation: account-level About Us; campaign-level Commercial Services; ad group-level Request a Roofing Inspection.
• SaaS: account-level Customer Stories; campaign-level Marketing Analytics; ad group-level Google Ads Reporting.
• Local business: account-level Reviews; campaign-level Dental Services; ad group-level Emergency Dentist in Brooklyn.

When several levels contain eligible assets, Google can select the links that it predicts will be most useful for the particular auction. Advertisers should therefore review the complete set of associations rather than assuming that only the most recently created sitelinks will be available.

Avoid unnecessarily recreating the same sitelink at every level. When the text and destination are identical, reuse an existing asset where appropriate and manage its associations. This makes future URL, scheduling, and text updates easier to control.

Display of Sitelinks on Mobile Devices and Desktop

Sitelinks do not have one fixed appearance. Google can arrange them differently depending on the device, ad position, query, available space, and predicted usefulness of the individual links.

• Desktop: Google may show several sitelinks below the main ad, arranged in rows, columns, or a list. Up to six sitelinks may appear in some desktop layouts.
• Mobile: Google may show sitelinks as a horizontally scrollable carousel, compact rows, or a vertical list. Up to eight sitelinks may appear in some mobile layouts.

These figures represent possible upper limits rather than a guaranteed number of links. An ad may show fewer sitelinks, and some impressions may not include sitelinks at all.

A sitelink can contain:

• Sitelink text: the clickable name of the destination.
• Description line 1: an optional supporting statement.
• Description line 2: an additional optional statement.
• Final URL: the page opened when the sitelink is clicked.

Adding descriptions gives Google more material to use when an expanded format is available. However, descriptions are not guaranteed to appear. The same sitelink may be shown with two description lines in one context and as a compact text link in another.

For that reason, the sitelink text must communicate the destination clearly without relying on the description. A text such as Pricing or Book a Demo remains understandable in a compact mobile layout, while a vague label such as Learn More may not.

Note: Display formats are accurate as of August 2026. Google regularly tests and updates Search ad layouts, so the number, order, and visual treatment of sitelinks may vary.

How to Create Sitelinks for Your Campaign

Sitelinks may be suggested during the creation of a Search ad, Performance Max campaign, or another eligible campaign format. However, the most complete way to create, review, and manage them is through the Assets section of Google Ads.

Before creating the assets, decide:

• Which account, campaign, or ad group should use the links.
• Which user intentions are not fully represented by the main landing page.
• Which pages provide a genuinely different destination or next step.
• Whether the sitelink should run continuously or only during specific dates and hours.
• Whether separate tracking parameters are required.

When configuring Performance Max or Responsive Search Ads, you may also encounter a Sitelinks section below the main headlines and descriptions. You can use this workflow to select existing assets or create new ones, but you should still review their association level after saving.

Sitelinks are reusable assets. A sitelink can be created once and then associated with an appropriate account, campaign, or ad group. This is generally easier to maintain than producing multiple duplicate assets with identical text and URLs.

Before saving, open every Final URL and confirm that:

• The page loads correctly on desktop and mobile.
• The destination matches the promise made by the sitelink text.
• The content, pricing, availability, and offer dates are current.
• The page does not immediately redirect users to an unrelated destination.
• Conversion tracking works on the destination page.

How to Add Sitelinks

The precise labels in the interface may change, but the general workflow is as follows:

1. Open Campaigns in Google Ads.
2. Go to Assets.
3. Select the Associations view when you need to control where the sitelink will be used.
4. Click the plus or Create button and choose Sitelink.
5. Choose the level where the sitelink should be added: Account, Campaign, or Ad group.
6. Select an existing sitelink from the Asset Library or choose the option to create a new asset.
7. Enter the Sitelink text.
8. Add Description line 1 and Description line 2.
9. Enter the Final URL.
10. Open the advanced options when you need to configure scheduling, start and end dates, a mobile URL, a tracking template, or a Final URL suffix.
11. Review the association level and save the asset.

Google Ads may technically allow a campaign to be saved with a small number of links, but the minimum required to complete a setup should not be treated as the recommended configuration.

Google recommends maintaining at least four active sitelinks. For high-volume campaigns, ad groups, and Performance Max asset groups, Google recommends providing at least six sitelinks with descriptions. Up to 20 sitelinks can be associated at an account, campaign, or ad group level.

Descriptions should not merely repeat the sitelink text. Use them to clarify the value of the destination:

• Sitelink text: View Pricing
• Description line 1: Compare plans and features
• Description line 2: Choose monthly or annual billing

For a temporary promotion, use the scheduling options rather than relying on someone to remove the sitelink manually after the offer expires. Scheduling is especially useful for seasonal sales, business hours, events, limited availability, and time-sensitive service options.

What Not to Do

Sitelinks should extend the ad rather than reproduce information that is already available through the main headline and landing page.

• Don’t simply copy your headlines. Repeating the same wording does not create an additional navigation option and may make the asset less useful.
• Don’t use vague labels. Text such as Click Here, More, or Learn More does not explain where the user will go.
• Don’t send every sitelink to the same page. Different link texts should normally represent different destinations or clearly different user actions.
• Don’t link to the main landing page without a reason. Using the same destination is not automatically prohibited, but it rarely adds meaningful navigation value unless the sitelink points to a relevant section or supports a clearly different action.
• Don’t create misleading text. A sitelink called Pricing should open a page where pricing information is immediately available.
• Don’t mix unrelated products or services. A sitelink may be valid at the account level but irrelevant to the search intent of a specific campaign.
• Don’t repeat your callouts. Statements such as Free Shipping may work better as callouts unless they lead to a useful shipping page.
• Don’t keep expired promotions active. Remove or schedule links for sales, events, seasonal inventory, and temporary offers.
• Don’t send traffic to unavailable products. Check inventory, service availability, regional restrictions, and booking capacity.
• Don’t ignore mobile usability. A page that is difficult to navigate on a phone can undermine the benefit of a mobile sitelink.
• Don’t use broken URLs or unnecessary redirect chains. Test all destinations after website migrations, URL changes, and catalog updates.
• Don’t evaluate a new sitelink after only a few impressions. Low delivery may reflect auction selection rather than poor user response.

Also review automatically created assets. Google may generate dynamic sitelinks when it predicts that they will improve the ad experience. These can complement advertiser-created sitelinks, but they should be monitored to ensure that the selected destinations are appropriate for the business.

Best Practice

The strongest sitelink sets are designed around user intent rather than filled with whatever pages happen to be available on the website.

A practical starting point is to cover several different needs:

• Explore: product categories, service types, collections, industries, or use cases.
• Evaluate: pricing, comparisons, specifications, case studies, testimonials, or reviews.
• Reduce risk: delivery, returns, guarantees, support, certifications, or FAQs.
• Convert: book a demo, request a quote, schedule an appointment, find a store, or contact sales.

For an e-commerce campaign, a balanced set might include:

• Shop Best Sellers — direct access to popular products.
• New Arrivals — a current collection for users looking for new options.
• Sale — discounted products for price-sensitive users.
• Delivery Information — shipping times and costs.
• Customer Reviews — social proof.
• Returns — information that reduces purchase risk.

For a lead generation campaign, a useful set might include:

• Our Services
• View Pricing
• Customer Stories
• Service Areas
• Request a Quote
• Contact an Expert

For a SaaS campaign, consider:

• Product Features
• Integrations
• Pricing
• Case Studies
• Book a Demo
• Start Free Trial

Apply the following principles when creating the final set:

• Maintain enough active options. Use at least four active sitelinks and aim for six or more with descriptions in important, high-volume campaigns.
• Make the text specific. Women’s Running Shoes communicates more than Our Products.
• Place the strongest meaning first. Users should understand the destination immediately, especially when the text is truncated on smaller screens.
• Use descriptions whenever possible. They give Google the option to show a larger and more informative format.
• Use a distinct Final URL. Each sitelink should normally provide a genuinely different route through the site.
• Match the level to the relevance. Broad trust pages can sit at the account level; narrow product or service destinations belong closer to the ad group.
• Match the sitelink to the query. A user searching for pricing should not have to navigate from a generic product page to find it.
• Keep promises consistent. The wording in the sitelink, ad, and landing page should describe the same offer.
• Schedule time-sensitive links. Use dates and hours for sales, events, seasonal services, and contact options that are only available at certain times.
• Review assets after website changes. Product removals, redirects, navigation changes, and rebranding can make existing links inaccurate.
• Use tracking consistently. Apply approved URL parameters without creating conflicting tracking settings at different levels.
• Design for mobile users. Prioritize concise text and landing pages that load quickly and place the promised content near the top.

Do not use only promotional links. A set containing Sale, Special Offer, Discount, and Clearance serves essentially one intent. A more diverse set gives Google useful options for users who want to compare products, assess the company, understand delivery, or complete a conversion.

You should also avoid changing every sitelink at the same time. When possible, replace weak or outdated links gradually so that you can distinguish the effect of a new destination from broader changes in campaign traffic and performance.

How to Track the Performance of Your Sitelinks

Adding sitelinks is only the first step. Performance analysis helps determine whether Google is serving the assets, which destinations attract user interest, and whether the additional navigation contributes to business results.

However, sitelink reporting must be interpreted carefully. In some asset reports, the standard Clicks column can include clicks on the ad when that asset was displayed, including clicks on the main headline or another part of the ad. It should not always be interpreted as the number of direct clicks on that specific sitelink.

This distinction matters. A sitelink may appear alongside an ad that generates a conversion even when the user ultimately clicks the main headline. The asset may have contributed to the amount of information and trust presented in the ad, but the conversion cannot automatically be attributed to a direct sitelink click.

A complete analysis should therefore combine several views:

• The Assets or Associations report to understand delivery and performance when the sitelink was present.
• Click type segmentation to isolate direct sitelink interactions where available.
• The Landing pages report to evaluate traffic and conversions by destination URL.
• Campaign and ad group reporting to understand the context in which the asset was shown.
• Conversion and conversion value metrics to assess business outcomes.

Performance should be evaluated over a meaningful period. A link with very few impressions has not necessarily failed; Google may have had limited opportunities to select it, or more relevant links may have been available for most auctions.

Where to Find the Data

1. Open Campaigns in Google Ads.
2. Go to Assets.
3. Open the Associations view when you need to analyse where each asset is connected.
4. Select or filter the asset type to show Sitelinks only.
5. Set the required scope: account, campaign, or ad group.
6. Add columns such as impressions, clicks, cost, conversions, conversion value, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.
7. Review the association level so that account-level and narrowly targeted sitelinks are not compared without context.
8. Segment the report by Click type where this option is available.
9. Use additional segments such as campaign, device, network, and time when they provide enough data for a meaningful comparison.

When viewing standard asset statistics, remember that the reported clicks can represent clicks on the ad while the asset was displayed. Use the click type segment to identify clicks categorized as sitelink interactions rather than assuming that every click shown in the asset row occurred on the link itself.

You can also use the Landing pages report to compare the actual destinations used by your sitelinks. This is particularly helpful when the same landing page receives traffic from ads, sitelinks, and other assets.

For larger accounts, the Google Ads API can be used to export asset associations and performance data across campaigns. This can help identify:

• Sitelinks with no or very limited delivery.
• Expired or broken Final URLs.
• Assets associated at an unnecessarily broad level.
• Duplicate link texts or destinations.
• Differences in performance by campaign, device, or destination.

Metrics to Watch

No single metric is sufficient to evaluate a sitelink. Review delivery, engagement, and business outcomes together.

• Impressions: How often the asset was shown or reported with the ad. Low impressions may indicate limited eligibility, low traffic, narrow associations, or stronger competing assets.
• Clicks: How many clicks the ad received when displayed with the asset. In a standard asset report, this may combine clicks on the main ad and clicks on the asset.
• Direct sitelink clicks: Clicks categorized as sitelink interactions when the report is segmented by click type.
• CTR: Click-through rate for the reported ad and asset context. Confirm the reporting view before treating it as the direct CTR of the sitelink itself.
• Cost: The cost recorded when the ad and asset combination generated chargeable clicks.
• Conversions: Conversion actions attributed to traffic associated with the ad and asset reporting row.
• Conversion rate: The proportion of reported clicks that resulted in conversions.
• Cost per conversion: The average advertising cost required to generate a conversion.
• Conversion value: Revenue or another value assigned to the resulting conversions.
• ROAS: Conversion value divided by cost, where revenue tracking is available.
• Landing-page performance: Engagement, conversion rate, revenue, and technical quality of the page used as the Final URL.
• Device performance: Differences between mobile, desktop, and tablet users.

Do not compare sitelinks only by CTR. A trust-oriented destination such as Returns or Customer Reviews may receive fewer direct clicks than Sale, but it can still answer an important objection and support the overall ad.

Similarly, do not compare links with very different intentions as though they perform the same role. A Book a Demo sitelink is designed to produce a direct lead, while a Case Studies sitelink may assist users who are still evaluating the company.

Consider replacing or revising an asset when it has received sufficient delivery and consistently shows:

• Low direct interaction compared with other links serving the same intent.
• Poor landing-page conversion performance.
• High cost per conversion without a corresponding increase in conversion value.
• A mismatch between the link text and the actual page content.
• Poor mobile performance caused by the destination page.

Before making a decision, check whether the asset had enough impressions and whether its campaign, device, and association level are comparable with the assets used as benchmarks.

A Quick Tip

Sitelink reporting is not always the same as direct sitelink-click reporting. The standard clicks shown for an asset can include clicks on the ad when the sitelink appeared. Use Click type segmentation when you need to identify interactions classified specifically as sitelink clicks.

For landing-page analysis, combine Google Ads asset data with the Landing pages report and your web analytics platform. Consistent URL parameters can make it easier to distinguish traffic by campaign, asset, and destination, but tracking parameters should be implemented carefully to avoid duplicate or conflicting values.

Review sitelinks regularly, especially after:

• Website migrations or URL changes.
• Product launches or removals.
• Changes in pricing or service availability.
• The end of a sale or seasonal campaign.
• Changes to business hours or store locations.
• A significant change in mobile landing-page performance.

Keep high-performing and strategically useful links, but do not replace every low-volume sitelink automatically. First check whether it had enough opportunities to appear, whether it serves a distinct user intention, and whether a more appropriate account, campaign, or ad group association could improve its relevance.

A strong optimization process does not merely remove the least-clicked link. It maintains a balanced set of destinations that helps users explore the offer, evaluate the company, reduce uncertainty, and take the next conversion action.