Google AdWords Debuts Dynamic Sitelinks Globally: What You Need To Know

Meet Dynamic Sitelinks, the latest ad snippet from Google AdWords. Dynamic sitelinks are another one of those add-ons — like seller ratings and consumer ratings annotations — in which advertisers don’t have control over what displays or when the content is triggered. Here’s what you need to know: Dynamic sitelinks are automatically generated, typically when […]

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Google AdWords Dynamic Sitelinks Meet Dynamic Sitelinks, the latest ad snippet from Google AdWords. Dynamic sitelinks are another one of those add-ons — like seller ratings and consumer ratings annotations — in which advertisers don’t have control over what displays or when the content is triggered. Dynamic Sitelinks Google AdWordsHere’s what you need to know:

  • Dynamic sitelinks are automatically generated, typically when it’s apparent that someone is shopping, planning a trip or doing some other research via search.
  • They appear below the ad copy and can trigger on all devices.
  • These sitelinks link to relevant content on the advertisers’ site. However, even though the example Google provided — “Schedule a Test Drive at Joe’s Used Cars — is a call to action, dynamic sitelinks won’t always include a call to action.
  • Also note that these won’t ever trigger at the same time as regular sitelinks. And this is why Google stresses that advertisers shouldn’t sit back and expect dynamic sitelinks to do the heavy lifting from now on:

“it’s important to continue adding and optimizing sitelinks because impression share for dynamic sitelinks will be low. In fact, the sitelinks you set up will always show, except for the few instances when the dynamic sitelink might perform better.”

  • They’re free. For now at least, advertisers won’t be charged for clicks on dynamic sitelinks. Though it’s likely that as the program ramps, clicks on these will eventually be priced at a regular cost-per-click.
  • Advertisers have the ability to disable dynamic sitelinks if desired.
  • Limited performance reporting is available at this point.

If the aim is to add that extra nudge to get someone to pull the trigger on the purchase or transaction they’ve been looking at, dynamic sitelinks could be interesting if the copy is effective. Yet, it’s hard to say what kind of impact they’ll have in the near future if impression volume is as low as Google makes it sound like it will be. And of course, not having control over what kind of content will get served up is always a bit nerve-wracking.

Dynamic sitelinks are rolling out globally now. Keep your eyes out for them.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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