14 DAY TRIAL // Google search ads are becoming bigger. That is to say, more useful. Google has been testing a new layout with expanded sitelinks for the ads that show up on top of the organic search results and, surprisingly, the bigger ads with more links and more info actually resulted in better clickthrough rates.
Buoyed by this unexpected result, Google is now starting to roll out the bigger ads to more countries. Well, to all countries, everywhere that AdWords is available.
"Early testing showed that enhanced sitelinks could make ads that appear above the organic search results even more useful. And they could lead to significantly higher clickthrough rates for an advertiser than regular 2-line and 3-line sitelinks," Google wrote.
To be clear, these are "enhanced" sitelinks, i.e. the kind that also display some text besides just the link, more like a regular ad or a search result.
Google says it's been improving these new ad units, with the enhanced sitelinks since it introduced them several months ago.
It now believes they're ready to roll out to everyone. If you want to take advantage of these new sitelinks, you have to set up your AdWords campaign properly, Google explains how in its post.
- Enhanced sitelinks can only show when your ad is above the organic search results. If a "top vs. other" report shows that your ads have few impressions in a top ad position, you can try increasing your Quality Score, increasing your max CPC bid, or a combination of the two. - Add 6-10 sitelinks, each with a unique landing page. - Have multiple active ads in your account with the same landing page URLs as your sitelinks. One ad to match each unique sitelink is the bare minimum.
Also note that the enhanced sitelinks, like all sitelinks are generated automatically and, while you can make it easier for Google to do it, you have no control on how they look or even if they're displayed at all.