Google Sitelinks and Importance of Meta Description Tag

Last month google made a change in its SERP listing display by showing up extended site links. The sitelinks are displayed if Google is sure that a website is the exact match for a search query. It generally happens in case of product name or company name searches.


If you check the screenshot it can be easily realized that these pages if optimized with good meta description can be as effective as the sponsored listings shown on top of SERP.

An optimized description tag can increase the chances of more clicks on internal pages.

How to Make Sitelinks more clickable

Google uses first 30-35 charactersof meta description tag to show in the sitelink snippet. So the opportunity lies in utilizing it and optimize the meta description tag in such a way that it leads to more clicks.

• Create a unique meta description for each page of your website.
• Utilize these 30-35 characters to display the exact message, call to action.

Why my website is not showing up sitelinks?

To answer this question we have to check our website for few elements:

• Is your website using javascript and flash navigation?
• Are images used for website navigation?

If answer to these question is then you may face problems in seeing sitelinks. In order to resolve this

• Avoid javascript and flash navigation. Try to use as often as possible.
• Provide alternative text for your images. It will help Google determine your link.
• Try to avoid deeper navigation. Better a webpage is linked better chances are there for it to show up in sitelinks.

So take advantage of the sitelink feature to increase more clicks on your website.