The manual way comes first, in Google Ads itself. Then the same problem as Goldbeater finds it, every day, without anyone asking.
What they are
Sitelinks are extra links under your ad, each to a page on your site: a product range, your store hours, a contact page. Google shows up to 6 on a computer and up to 8 in a carousel on a phone. Link text is up to 25 characters, and each sitelink can carry two description lines.
Callouts are short lines of text that say what you offer, like “24/7 phone support” or “free gift wrapping.” Each is up to 25 characters, and up to 10 can show, depending on space.
Structured snippets are a header from Google’s fixed list and at least three values under it, such as “Types: Sofas, Armchairs, Ottomans.” The headers are Amenities, Brands, Courses, Degree programs, Destinations, Featured hotels, Insurance coverage, Models, Neighborhoods, Service catalog, Shows, Styles and Types. A computer shows up to two headers, a phone one. The character limits guide has every field’s limit in one table, and the structured snippets guide has each header with Google’s own examples and what its policy asks of a value.
They cost nothing to add, and they make the ad bigger. Google says assets like sitelinks give your ad “greater visibility and prominence on the search results page,” and it charges a click on a sitelink as it would a click on the headline. None of them is guaranteed to show: Google shows one when it predicts it will help the ad.
Until September 2022 Google called them ad extensions, so sitelink extensions and callout extensions are the same things under their old names. Google renamed them assets that month, and its pages use only the new name.
What makes a good one
Google’s own advice for callouts comes down to two rules, each with its own example:
- Keep it short. Shorter text means more callouts fit: “Free shipping” rather than “We have free shipping.”
- Be specific. Give the reader something to decide on: “34 MPG max mileage” rather than “Great fuel economy.”
Put what’s true of the whole business at the account level (“24/7 phone support”) and what’s specific lower down (“20% off cameras” in the ad group that sells cameras). For sitelinks, keep the link text short so more of them show, point each at a page that matches its words, and fill in the descriptions. Two sitelinks with the same or similar text won’t show together.
| Asset | Instead of | Write | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Callout | Quality furniture | Solid oak frames | A fact the reader can check |
| Callout | We have free returns | Free 30-day returns | Shorter, so more fit |
| Callout | Fast delivery | Delivered in 5 days | A number, not an adjective |
| Sitelink | Click here | Sofa beds | Names the page it opens |
| Sitelink | Our products | Rugs under $300 | Answers a question before the click |
How to find campaigns without them
- In Google Ads, open Assets within the Campaigns menu. You land on the Associations view, with a row for each place an asset is added: the account, a campaign or an ad group.
- Filter the asset type to Sitelink.
- If a row is at the account level, every campaign has sitelinks. If none is, list the campaigns on the rows and compare them with your campaigns. A Search or Performance Max campaign that isn’t there has none of its own.
- Do the same for Callout and Structured snippet.
Two things to know as you read it. Sitelinks from the account, the campaign and the ad group can serve together, but callouts and structured snippets can’t: one added at the ad group level stops the campaign’s and the account’s from serving in that ad group. And the ones Google writes for you, such as dynamic sitelinks, aren’t in this view. They’re under Account level automated assets, in the three-dot menu on the right of the table.
How to add them
Start at the account level, so every campaign has them at once:
- Open Assets within the Campaigns menu, press the plus button, and choose Sitelink.
- In Add to, choose Account.
- For each one, fill in the sitelink text, the two description lines and the page’s URL.
- Add at least 4, which is what Google recommends at the account level, and save. They need at least 2 to show at all.
Callouts and structured snippets are added the same way: the plus button, then Callout or Structured snippet, and Account in Add to. For a snippet, pick a header and give it at least four values: Google takes three, and recommends four.
Then add specific ones where a campaign or ad group needs its own. Google recommends at least 6 sitelinks, with descriptions, for each campaign and ad group with a lot of traffic. Remember that a callout added to an ad group replaces the account’s callouts there, so repeat any account-wide lines you want kept.
What Goldbeater shows you
Every day Goldbeater looks at each enabled Search and Performance Max campaign, and at the account, for sitelinks and callouts, and at Search campaigns for structured snippets. A campaign showing fewer than the six sitelinks Google recommends, or fewer than four callouts, is a finding, and so is a Search campaign with no structured snippet, or without a kind of asset your other campaigns show, such as a call asset or prices. Too few sitelinks is one finding, a few callouts but fewer than four another, and the types a campaign lacks altogether are named together in a third. Where no campaign in the account shows a kind at all, such as images or a call asset, the image extensions guide covers finding it and adding it, and the lead form extensions guide a lead form. The price and promotion extensions guide covers a campaign without the price asset or the promotion your others show.
Sitelinks are added to the campaign from the change set: you write each one’s link text, the page it opens and two description lines, starting from the pages its clicks went to that no sitelink opens, and Goldbeater checks each page is on your site and loads before anything is sent. A campaign with one sitelink is told it shows none, since Google needs two. Where a campaign shows no callouts, or only a few, it offers adding them to the campaign from the change set: you write the lines, one to a line, or rewrite the ones Goldbeater’s AI agent drafted from your account’s own ads, sitelinks and callouts, before you approve them. Where the few it shows are the account’s, those go to the campaign with yours, since its own would take their place. Or you add yours to the account’s own, from the same finding, and every campaign without callouts of its own shows them: that is the change Goldbeater recommends where other campaigns show the account’s too. A Search campaign with no structured snippet is offered one the same way: you pick its header and write at least four values.
Rugs — Broad is missing callouts and a structured snippet
Rugs — Broad
Neither is at campaign or account level.
- Cost, 30 days
- $1,260
- Conv., 30 days
- 3.6
- ROAS
- 1.20
Callouts, at least four, and structured snippets, under more than one header with four values each, are free lines of text on your ad, and a call asset, images, a logo, prices, an offer, your app or a message button that another of your campaigns already shows fits the rest too. A campaign without them shows a smaller ad than it could, and usually earns fewer clicks for it. It reads campaigns before they launch too.
Add four callouts (short lines under the ad like "Free shipping", up to 25 characters each) to Rugs — Broad: write them below, one to a line, and add them to the change set. If they fit every campaign, add them at the account level in Google Ads instead. Add a structured snippet (a header like "Types" and at least 4 values) to Rugs — Broad: pick its header and write its values below, and add it to the change set. If it fits every campaign, add it at the account level in Google Ads instead.
- Add 4 calloutsFree 30-day returns Delivered in 5 days Hand-knotted wool Rugs in 40 sizesCampaignRugs — Broad
It reaches your account when you approve it in the change set and press Apply. An applied change can be undone.
This is “Campaigns missing callouts, snippets and assets your others show” on a sample account. See what it finds in your own account and what the fix is worth, and ask your AI analyst about any finding.
Get a free first lookWhere it counts them. Goldbeater counts the assets set on each campaign and on the account, the two levels that reach every ad in the campaign. A type your ad groups carry their own of isn’t judged in that campaign, and an asset Google disapproved counts as none. The disapproved ads guide covers finding Google’s reason and fixing it. An asset Google made and linked to the campaign or the account counts as one shown. A snippet Google made is left out when Goldbeater counts your headers and their values, since it isn’t yours to edit. Google’s own ad strength rating counts dynamic sitelinks toward its six, beside the ones you write.
Questions
- Do sitelinks cost extra?
- Adding them costs nothing. A click on a sitelink is charged the same as any other click on the ad.
- Why isn’t my sitelink showing?
- Sitelinks need at least 2 to show. Two with the same or similar text won’t show together, and Google leaves them off when it predicts they won’t help the ad.