How to Get Sitelinks in Google (the Extra Links Under Your Listing)

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Short answer: You can't turn sitelinks on or ask Google for them. Google generates those indented sub-links under a result automatically, and almost always only for the site that ranks first for its own brand name. Your job is to be that obvious #1 with a tidy, well-linked site.

Picture a plumber searching her own business name. A competitor's listing sits fat at the top with four indented links under it: Contact, Services, Reviews, Book Online. It takes up half the screen. Her own listing is one plain blue line below. Her first thought is reasonable: how do I turn those on for me? The honest answer is that there is no switch. And once you understand why, the pressure comes off. This is not a technical trick you are failing at.

What are sitelinks, exactly?

Sitelinks are the extra links that appear indented under a single search result, usually the top one. Search a bakery's name and you might see the main listing, then a small block beneath it linking straight to Menu, Order Online, About, and Contact. Google's own documentation puts it plainly: "Sitelinks are links from the same domain that are clustered together under a text result. Our systems analyze the link structure of your site to find shortcuts that will save users time."

So they are shortcuts. Google looks at how your pages connect to each other and decides which ones a searcher is most likely to want next. When it is confident, it surfaces them right under your listing. When it is not, you get the plain single line.

Can you turn sitelinks on or request them?

No. There is no button, no form, no setting in Search Console, no schema tag you add. Google decides, and it says so directly: "We only show sitelinks for results when we think they'll be useful to the user. If the structure of your site doesn't allow our algorithms to find good sitelinks, or we don't think that the sitelinks for your site are relevant for the user's query, we won't show them." The same page states flatly that "at the moment, sitelinks are automated."

That word, automated, is the whole story. You are not applying for sitelinks. You are making a site that is easy for Google to build them from, and then getting out of the way.

Why are sitelinks worth wanting?

They make you look bigger. A listing with four indented links takes up two or three times the vertical space of a plain result, and every extra pixel you own pushes a competitor further down. On a phone screen, one sitelinked listing can fill nearly everything above the fold.

They also pull more clicks. SISTRIX, in an analysis of more than 80 million keywords, found that the first organic position with sitelinks earns a 46.9% click-through rate, almost every second click on the page. Position one with no special features sits at 34.2%. That gap, roughly 13 points, is the difference between owning the search for your name and merely appearing in it. Sitelinks show up almost entirely on navigational and branded searches, the ones where someone types your business name because they already want you. Losing that click to a directory or a competitor is the worst click to lose.

Rank #1 for your own business name first

Here is the part most owners skip. Sitelinks attach to the top result and only the top result. If you are not #1 for your own name, the question of sitelinks is moot, because they will not appear under a listing sitting in third place. So the first move is not a site-structure tweak. It is making sure that when someone searches your exact business name, your homepage is the clear winner, above your Facebook page, above Yelp, above the plumber two towns over with a similar name.

For most small businesses this is winnable, because a branded search is far less crowded than a competitive keyword. If you want the broader groundwork for climbing the results at all, our guide on getting on the first page of Google covers the fundamentals. To confirm where you actually stand right now, check your Google ranking for your own name in an incognito window before you change anything.

Make the site-structure moves you actually control

Once you are the #1 result for your name, sitelinks come down to giving Google clean shortcuts to find. Google's own best-practices list reads like a small tidy-up job, not a coding project. Four moves matter most.

First, clear page titles. Google advises: "Make sure that the text you use as your page titles and in your headings is informative, relevant, and compact." A page titled "Emergency Plumbing Services" is a candidate. One titled "Home | Welcome to Our Website" is not. This is worth doing carefully, and our walkthrough on how to write page titles shows exactly how.

Second, a logical structure with real internal links. Google wants you to "create a logical site structure that is easy for users to navigate, and make sure you link to your important pages from other relevant pages." A clean main menu of your key pages, Services, About, Contact, Book, is the single biggest signal. Those menu links are the shortcuts Google reaches for.

Third, concise link text. Google asks you to "ensure that your internal links' anchor text is concise and relevant to the page they're pointing to." Link the word "Menu" to your menu page, not "click here to see what we serve."

Fourth, no duplicate pages. Google's list ends with "avoid repetitions in your content." Two near-identical Services pages confuse the shortcut-finding. Pick one. For the wider tidy-up, our on-page SEO basics cover how these pieces fit together.

Why a unique business name helps

A florist called "Bloom" competes with a thousand other Blooms, garden blogs, and a paint colour. A florist called "Thornfield & Vine" competes with almost nothing. The more distinctive your name, the easier it is to own the #1 spot for it, and the #1 spot is the only spot sitelinks attach to. If you are still naming the business, distinctive beats descriptive for this exact reason.

In the work we do on owner-run sites, the pattern is consistent: the businesses that get sitelinks are almost never the ones chasing a clever trick. They are the ones with a five-item menu that has stayed the same for a year, page titles that say what each page is, and a name nothing else competes for. We have watched a single fix, cutting a bloated navigation of eighteen links down to the six pages that matter, be the thing that finally let Google build the shortcuts. Nothing exotic. Just a site that is legible.

How long does it take, and why don't you have them yet?

There is no timer. Google rebuilds sitelinks as it recrawls and re-evaluates your site, which can be days or many weeks after you make changes. A brand-new site rarely has them, because Google has not seen enough of your structure yet. A site with thin or messy navigation may never get them, because there are no clear shortcuts to find.

If your site is not showing under Google at all yet, sitelinks are premature. Fix the ranking first. Our guide on why your website is not showing on Google covers the usual causes. The order is always the same: get indexed, rank #1 for your name, tidy the structure, then wait.

This mirrors what real owners land on when they ask. A store owner on the Shopify Community forum asked, "How can I enhance the appearance of my sitelinks on Google?" The most useful reply walked through exactly these levers, clear navigation, internal linking, a sitemap, then closed with the honest caveat that "sitelinks are automated by Google algorithms and are only shown when they are useful to the user." That is the whole answer in one thread: do the tidy-up, then let Google decide.

Can you choose or remove a sitelink?

You cannot pick which links show. Google chooses from your structure, and it will sometimes surface a page you would not have. What you can do is remove an unwanted one: delete the page, or add a noindex tag so Google drops it from search entirely. Do that and the sitelink for it disappears on the next crawl.

The old way of nudging this is gone. Google Search Console used to have a "demote sitelinks" tool, and on October 13, 2016, after nearly nine years, Google shut it off. As Search Engine Land reported at the time, Google removed it to "simplify things," saying "our algorithms have gotten much better at finding, creating and showing relevant sitelinks." The official advice since then is the same list you have already read: a clear structure, relevant internal links, and noindex to remove a page you do not want surfaced.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get sitelinks under my Google listing?

You don't request them, you earn them. Rank #1 for your business name, then give Google clean shortcuts to find: a tidy main menu, clear page titles, internal links to your key pages, and no duplicate pages. Google generates the sitelinks automatically when it decides they help searchers.

Why does my competitor have sitelinks and I don't?

Almost always because they rank #1 for their own name and you don't yet, or because their site structure is clearer than yours. Sitelinks only attach to the top result. Confirm you are the #1 listing for your exact business name first, then tidy your navigation and page titles.

Can I pay Google to add sitelinks?

No. Sitelinks are part of organic search and cannot be bought, requested, or turned on through ads or any paid product. They are generated automatically from your site's structure, which is why the work is free but not instant.

How long after I fix my site will sitelinks appear?

There is no fixed timeline. Google rebuilds them as it recrawls your site, which can take anywhere from days to several weeks. New sites and sites with thin structure often wait longer, because Google needs to see clear, stable shortcuts before it will show them.

That plumber staring at her competitor's four indented links was never one button away from matching them. She was a tidy menu and a #1 ranking away, which is slower but entirely in her hands. Being the obvious answer for your own name, with a site clean enough for Google to read at a glance, is the whole game. That steady tidy-up work, the page titles, the internal links, the ranking for your name, is exactly what Fonzy keeps running in the background so the shortcuts have something to grow from.

Sources

Roald

Founder Fonzy. Obsessed with scaling organic traffic. Writing about the intersection of SEO, AI, and product growth.