Carlos
Well-known member
So, I received an email from google today, and it's about sitelinks. Google has noticed an increase in sitelinks "spam" via duplicate links...
When I read this "owh! Really?" People actually slip main site links into sitelinks? What are you, desperate?
We're making a policy enforcement change that could affect the performance
of any AdWords campaign that uses sitelinks. If you use sitelinks now, or
plan to use sitelinks in the future, please continue reading to understand
the changes and suggested steps you can take to avoid any negative impact
to your campaigns.
WHAT ARE SITELINKS
Sitelinks make your ads more valuable by showing additional direct links to
specific web pages that you want to promote. Users get to specific
destinations on your web site more quickly. And, on average, you'll see a
higher clickthrough rate for your ads. That makes sitelinks a great way to
improve your campaign performance. To see images or learn more about
sitelinks, please see this AdWords Help Center article
(http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?answer=2375416).
EXISTING SITELINKS POLICY
To ensure that users have a good experience with ad sitelinks, our existing
policy requires each sitelink in a campaign to link to a different landing
page URL with unique content on the landing page. That means a user can
expect a meaningfully different landing page experience for each sitelink.
ENFORCEMENT CHANGE
Recently, we've noticed an increase in the number of sitelinks created with
the same landing pages or the same content. So in the coming month, we will
begin more proactive enforcement of our existing policy. Initially, we'll
focus on new and recently changed sitelinks. As your ads are being served,
our systems will verify that your sitelinks meet the policy standards.
Sitelinks that don't meet the standards will be restricted from appearing.
IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE
Having fewer eligible sitelinks could keep your ad from showing in the
larger 2-line and 3-line formats, where more eligible sitelinks are
required. Remember, larger formats are more visible and typically have
higher average clickthrough rates (CTR). And if you don't have enough
eligible sitelinks in your campaign, then your ads may not display
sitelinks at all.
FUTURE ENFORCEMENT
We realize that manually checking and fixing duplicates for your existing
sitelinks and landing pages might take some time and coordination. So we're
delaying more proactive enforcement with existing sitelinks for a few
months. But don't wait until the last minute. And remember, any sitelink
that you add or change will be subject to proactive enforcement right away.
SUGGESTIONS WITH EXISTING SITELINKS
To increase the chances of having more sitelinks shown with your ads, we
recommend having 6-10 unique sitelinks in each of your campaigns.
If you already have campaigns with sitelinks, we'd suggest reviewing each
campaign to verify that it has 6-10 unique sitelinks. You'd probably want
to start with the campaigns that show sitelinks most often. Usually, this
would be a campaign with keywords like your business name and its
best-known products and services.
Here's how you can work through this using the AdWords interface.
1. Log into the AdWords interface and click on the "Ad Extensions" tab.
2. Select "Sitelinks Extensions" from the drop down menu.
3. Sort your sitelink extensions by impressions or clicks by clicking on
the column header.
4. Click on each sitelink in the top campaign and follow it through to its
landing page (there's no charge for these clicks).
5. Fix any duplicates you find in each campaign by hovering over the
extension area and clicking the pencil icon.
of any AdWords campaign that uses sitelinks. If you use sitelinks now, or
plan to use sitelinks in the future, please continue reading to understand
the changes and suggested steps you can take to avoid any negative impact
to your campaigns.
WHAT ARE SITELINKS
Sitelinks make your ads more valuable by showing additional direct links to
specific web pages that you want to promote. Users get to specific
destinations on your web site more quickly. And, on average, you'll see a
higher clickthrough rate for your ads. That makes sitelinks a great way to
improve your campaign performance. To see images or learn more about
sitelinks, please see this AdWords Help Center article
(http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?answer=2375416).
EXISTING SITELINKS POLICY
To ensure that users have a good experience with ad sitelinks, our existing
policy requires each sitelink in a campaign to link to a different landing
page URL with unique content on the landing page. That means a user can
expect a meaningfully different landing page experience for each sitelink.
ENFORCEMENT CHANGE
Recently, we've noticed an increase in the number of sitelinks created with
the same landing pages or the same content. So in the coming month, we will
begin more proactive enforcement of our existing policy. Initially, we'll
focus on new and recently changed sitelinks. As your ads are being served,
our systems will verify that your sitelinks meet the policy standards.
Sitelinks that don't meet the standards will be restricted from appearing.
IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE
Having fewer eligible sitelinks could keep your ad from showing in the
larger 2-line and 3-line formats, where more eligible sitelinks are
required. Remember, larger formats are more visible and typically have
higher average clickthrough rates (CTR). And if you don't have enough
eligible sitelinks in your campaign, then your ads may not display
sitelinks at all.
FUTURE ENFORCEMENT
We realize that manually checking and fixing duplicates for your existing
sitelinks and landing pages might take some time and coordination. So we're
delaying more proactive enforcement with existing sitelinks for a few
months. But don't wait until the last minute. And remember, any sitelink
that you add or change will be subject to proactive enforcement right away.
SUGGESTIONS WITH EXISTING SITELINKS
To increase the chances of having more sitelinks shown with your ads, we
recommend having 6-10 unique sitelinks in each of your campaigns.
If you already have campaigns with sitelinks, we'd suggest reviewing each
campaign to verify that it has 6-10 unique sitelinks. You'd probably want
to start with the campaigns that show sitelinks most often. Usually, this
would be a campaign with keywords like your business name and its
best-known products and services.
Here's how you can work through this using the AdWords interface.
1. Log into the AdWords interface and click on the "Ad Extensions" tab.
2. Select "Sitelinks Extensions" from the drop down menu.
3. Sort your sitelink extensions by impressions or clicks by clicking on
the column header.
4. Click on each sitelink in the top campaign and follow it through to its
landing page (there's no charge for these clicks).
5. Fix any duplicates you find in each campaign by hovering over the
extension area and clicking the pencil icon.
When I read this "owh! Really?" People actually slip main site links into sitelinks? What are you, desperate?
