Search for “Anthropic” and below the main result, you see organized links to specific pages: Research, Claude, Careers, About. These sitelinks provide direct navigation to important pages, taking up more search result real estate and making the brand listing far more prominent than a standard single-link result.
Sitelinks appear for brand searches and navigational queries where Google believes showing additional navigation helps users reach their intended destination faster. You can’t directly create sitelinks, but site structure and optimization decisions influence whether they appear and which pages Google selects.
This guide covers how sitelinks work, what factors influence their appearance, and optimization strategies to increase the likelihood of earning them.
How Google Generates Sitelinks
Google’s algorithms automatically select sitelinks based on site structure, internal linking, and user behavior patterns. No manual submission process exists. Google decides whether your site warrants sitelinks and which pages to show.
Sitelinks typically appear for navigational searches where the user clearly intends to reach a specific website. Brand name searches are the most common trigger. Searches for “Nashville Electric Service” or “[your company name]” may show sitelinks if Google has enough confidence about site structure.
The pages Google selects for sitelinks generally represent what algorithms determine are the most important and useful secondary pages for users trying to navigate your site. These often include:
Contact or About pages that users frequently seek
Product or service category pages representing main offerings
Account login or dashboard pages for services
Support or Help sections
Blog or resource sections if prominent
Google may show different sitelinks for different queries. A search for “[company] careers” might show sitelinks weighted toward HR-related pages, while a general brand search shows broader navigation options.
| Sitelink Factor | Influence Level | Optimization Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Site structure clarity | High | Clear hierarchy, logical URL paths |
| Internal linking | High | Strong links to important pages |
| Page importance signals | Medium | Prominence in navigation, link equity |
| User behavior | Medium | Pages users actually navigate to |
| Anchor text consistency | Medium | Clear, descriptive link text |
Site Structure Requirements
Sitelinks reflect site structure. Confusing, flat, or poorly organized sites rarely earn sitelinks because Google can’t confidently identify which pages matter most.
Clear hierarchy helps Google understand page relationships. Your site should have obvious organizational levels: homepage, main category pages, subcategory or detail pages. URL structure often reflects this: example.com/services/, example.com/services/consulting/, example.com/services/consulting/strategy/.
Logical URL paths reinforce hierarchy understanding. URLs that match navigation structure help Google map your site. When your menu shows Services > Consulting > Strategy, and the URL path matches, signals align.
Consistent navigation across your site demonstrates which pages you consider important. Pages that appear in header, footer, or sidebar navigation across the entire site signal importance. Pages buried in deep navigation rarely become sitelinks.
Distinct page purposes make sitelink selection clearer. If you have three pages covering similar topics with overlapping content, Google may struggle to determine which deserves sitelink prominence. Consolidate overlapping content or differentiate more clearly.
Site structure problems that inhibit sitelinks:
Flat architecture where everything links from the homepage with no intermediate organization
Deep nesting where important pages require many clicks to reach
Orphan pages that lack navigation links and internal linking
Duplicate or near-duplicate pages covering the same topics
Inconsistent navigation that changes significantly across sections
Internal Linking Strategy
Internal links distribute page importance signals throughout your site. Pages that receive more internal links from other pages generally rank higher and have better chances of appearing as sitelinks.
Link to important pages from your homepage. The homepage typically carries the most authority on your site. Direct links from the homepage transfer significant signals to target pages.
Use descriptive anchor text. Links saying “Learn More” tell Google little about the destination. Links saying “Our Consulting Services” or “Contact Our Nashville Team” describe destinations clearly. Consistent anchor text across multiple links to the same page reinforces page topic understanding.
Ensure navigation includes target pages. Pages in primary navigation receive links from every page on your site. This link volume signals importance. If you want a page to appear as a sitelink, it probably belongs in main navigation.
Link contextually from content. Beyond navigation, link to important pages from relevant content throughout your site. A blog post about project management might link to your project consulting services page. These contextual links add relevance signals beyond pure link count.
Internal linking audit questions:
Which pages receive the most internal links currently? Are these the pages you’d want as sitelinks?
Do your most important pages appear in main navigation?
Is anchor text to important pages consistent and descriptive?
Are there important pages with few internal links that need more?
Page Quality Considerations
Even with good structure and linking, page quality affects sitelink selection. Google wants sitelinks to take users to useful destinations, not thin or problematic pages.
Complete, unique content on candidate pages supports sitelink selection. A Contact page with just a form might work. A Contact page with form, multiple contact methods, location information with map, and response time expectations provides more value.
Clear page purpose helps Google match pages to user navigation intent. An About page that clearly introduces your company differs from a generic Services page. Distinct purposes make selection easier.
Mobile usability matters because Google primarily indexes mobile versions. Pages with mobile usability issues may be deprioritized for sitelinks regardless of other signals.
Page speed and technical health can influence selection. Pages with significant technical problems, broken elements, or very slow load times may lose sitelink opportunities to healthier pages.
Sitelinks Search Box
Some brand searches display a search box within sitelinks that allows users to search your site directly from Google results. This feature requires implementation of WebSite schema with SearchAction.
Schema markup for sitelinks search box:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebSite",
"url": "https://www.example.com/",
"potentialAction": {
"@type": "SearchAction",
"target": {
"@type": "EntryPoint",
"urlTemplate": "https://www.example.com/search?q={search_term_string}"
},
"query-input": "required name=search_term_string"
}
}The target URL template must point to a functional search results page on your site. Google verifies that the URL pattern works before enabling the search box feature.
Not every site with proper schema receives a sitelinks search box. Google evaluates whether your site’s search functionality provides good results and whether the feature benefits users. Large sites with extensive content are more likely to receive this feature than small sites where standard sitelinks suffice.
Removing Unwanted Sitelinks
Google previously offered a tool to demote specific sitelinks. That tool no longer exists. You cannot directly remove sitelinks you don’t want.
Indirect approaches to influence unwanted sitelinks:
Remove the page from navigation if it shouldn’t be prominent. Pages removed from main navigation receive fewer internal links and lower importance signals.
Add noindex to the page if you don’t want it appearing in search at all. This removes the page from search results entirely, not just from sitelinks. Only use this if you truly don’t want the page indexed.
Reduce internal linking to the unwanted page. Fewer links mean lower importance signals and potentially different sitelink selection.
Strengthen alternatives you’d prefer. If Google chooses an unwanted page over a preferred one, increasing signals to the preferred page may shift selection.
These approaches take time to affect Google’s algorithms. Sitelink changes happen gradually as Google recrawls and reevaluates your site.
Sitelinks for Subpages
Beyond homepage sitelinks, some sites earn sitelinks for category or section pages when those pages rank for their own navigational searches.
A Nashville law firm might have sitelinks appear for their homepage on brand searches. They might also earn separate sitelinks for their “Personal Injury” section page when users search specifically for that practice area plus the firm name.
Subpage sitelinks follow similar principles. The section needs clear subsection hierarchy, strong internal linking to subsection pages, and sufficient page quality for Google to determine which child pages deserve sitelink prominence.
Multi-level sitelink optimization means treating major sections as their own microsites in terms of structure and internal linking, while maintaining overall site hierarchy.
| Query Type | Sitelink Scope | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Brand name only | Site-wide important pages | "Acme Corp" shows main sections |
| Brand + section | Section-specific pages | "Acme Corp services" shows service categories |
| Brand + specific page | Usually no additional sitelinks | "Acme Corp contact" shows Contact page only |
Measuring Sitelink Impact
Sitelinks increase click-through rates for brand searches by making your listing more prominent and providing direct navigation to relevant pages.
Search Console data shows clicks and impressions for queries where sitelinks appear. Compare CTR for brand queries before and after sitelinks appear (if you can identify when they started showing).
Manual verification through searching your brand name shows current sitelinks and how they display. Do this in private browsing to avoid personalization effects.
Click distribution across sitelinks indicates which secondary pages users find most useful. If a particular sitelink gets many clicks, users value that shortcut. If a sitelink never gets clicked, it may not be serving user needs despite appearing.
Landing page analytics for sitelink destination pages shows traffic patterns that may indicate sitelink navigation. Direct traffic to specific pages following brand-related search volume suggests sitelink clicks.
Sitelinks represent a relatively small portion of overall SEO visibility but can meaningfully improve brand search experience and traffic distribution across your site’s important pages.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Sitelinks
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/sitelinks
- Google Search Central: Sitelinks Search Box
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sitelinks-searchbox
- Schema.org: WebSite with SearchAction
https://schema.org/SearchAction
Sitelink appearance and selection are fully automated by Google. Optimization influences likelihood but cannot guarantee specific results.