Microsoft introduced a new “hands-free” form of deep linking for Bing Ads’ advertisers earlier this week.
Known as Dynamic Sitelinks, it will automatically create and display deep links within advertisers’ ads. There’s no additional steps required by the advertiser, as Bing’s own algorithm does everything on its own. To learn more about Bing’s Dynamic Sitelinks and what they offer, keep reading.
What Are Sitelinks?
Sitelinks are essentially annotations with hyperlinks which are automatically placed in Bing Ads. When Microsoft first launched its pay-per-click (PPC) platform back in 2007 (formerly known as AdCenter), ads consisted of just a single link leading to the advertiser’s targeted page. With sitelinks, advertisers can display ads that contain up to three additional links.
Sitelinks isn’t actually a new feature in Bing Ads. Microsoft has offered them through its sitelinks extension for quite some time. What makes Dynamic Sitelinks different, however, is that it works automatically, without any additional steps taken on the advertiser’s part. Whether you set up your Bing Ads campaigns with sitelinks or not, Bing will automatically detect sitelinks within your site and display them within your ads.
Of course, Dynamic Sitelinks is only compatible with websites that contain multiple deep-linked pages. If your website is a single-page landing page, Bing won’t be able to create sitelinks for it.
So, what’s the purpose of Dynamic Sitelinks? By displaying deep links, advertisers can attract better targeted traffic while improving the overall experience for the end user. If an e-commerce apparel store owner wants to advertise his or her ads on Bing, for instance, Dynamic Sitelinks could be used to display links to men’s clothing, women’s clothing, kid’s clothing, etc.
“When customers are actively searching for products or services that interest them, the more relevant and specific the information they find is, the more likely they are to go from inquiry to conversion. With that in mind, the Bing Ads teams have been hard at work developing Dynamic Sitelinks, a new feature designed to help small-to-medium businesses by enhancing your ads’ relevance via surfacing useful and related sitelink information,” wrote Matt Bisson of Bing Ads.
Dynamic Sitelinks will only work if you aren’t using the Bing Ads sitelinks extension. The extension allows advertisers to control every aspect of their sitelinks, including the display text and destination URLs Dynamic Sitelinks, on the other hand, offers no control over these elements; therefore, it’s recommended that advertisers use the sitelinks extension as opposed to the new Dynamic Sitelinks.
Benefits of Using Dynamic Sitelinks
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Ads are larger and subsequently take up a greater amount of real estate.
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More conversions on deep pages within your site.
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Increased click-through rate (CTR).
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Better experience for your site’s visitors.
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Improves brand recognition.
According to Microsoft, ads with Dynamic Sitelinks have a 14% higher click-through rate (CTR) on average than ads with Dynamic Sitelinks. Conventional wisdom should tell you that a higher CTR translates into more sales, which is the primary objective for most PPC marketers. Rather than placing a single link in your ads, you can include multiple with sitelinks, which in turn will increase traffic to your site.
There are numerous case studies involving sitelinks published online, some of which attest to its CTR-boosting benefits, whereas others are more critical. Generally speaking, though, sitelinks will usually improve your CTR and conversions.
What About Google Adwords?
Bing Ads isn’t the only PPC network that offers sitelinks in ads; Google Adwords offers a similar feature for its advertisers through a sitelinks extension.
To add sitelinks to an Adwords campaign, select the desired campaign within your account and click the Ad extensions tab. Next, click the drop-down menu labeled View and click Sitelinks extensions. Click the Edit button next to the Sitelinks settings link followed by New. Add the display text and destination URLs for your sitelinks and click Save.
Note: Google allows Adwords advertisers to target specific devices with sitelinks, including all devices, mobile only, or desktop and tablet only. Select the devices you wish to target at the bottom of the sitelinks extension window and click Save.
Adwords also offers Dynamic Sitelinks in addition to its sitelinks extension. For your ads to be eligible for Dynamic Sitelinks, your campaign type must be set to either “Search Network with Display Select,” or “Search Network only.”
Here are some tips on how to get the most from your sitelinks extension (both Bing Ads and Adwords):
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Avoid using long, drawn-out display text. By keeping your text short, you’ll be able to display more sitelinks.
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Perform A-B split tests with different sitelinks to see what works and what doesn’t.
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Check out your website’s navigation bars for more sitelinks ideas.
- Look to what what types of sitelinks your competitors are using. While you shouldn’t copy them, seeing other examples may spark inspiration of your own.
