Monitoring and troubleshooting sitelinks in Google Search Console

Once you have implemented the structural, linking, and branding strategies from the previous lessons, you need to monitor your progress and troubleshoot any issues preventing sitelinks from appearing. Google Search Console is your primary tool for this. This lesson shows you how to track your sitelinks progress, interpret branded search data, diagnose common problems, and fix issues that block sitelinks on Wix websites.

Tracking Sitelinks in Google Search Console

Google Search Console does not have a dedicated "sitelinks" report, but you can track all the signals that influence sitelinks through existing reports. The Performance report, Coverage report, and Links report together give you a complete picture of your sitelinks readiness.

Performance Report: Branded Search Analysis

How to analyse branded search performance in GSC

• Open Google Search Console and go to Performance > Search Results.
• Click "New" filter and select "Query". Enter your exact brand name.
• Enable all four metrics: Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Average Position.
• Go to the "Pages" tab to see which pages appear for your branded searches.
• The pages listed here are your current sitelink candidates. Google is already showing these pages for brand queries.
• Sort by clicks to see which pages users choose most often, as these are the strongest sitelink candidates.
• Compare date ranges to track whether branded search performance is improving over time.

Diagnosing Why Sitelinks Are Not Appearing

If you have implemented the strategies from this module but sitelinks still are not showing, systematic diagnosis will identify the specific issue.

Problem 1: Not Ranking #1 for Brand Name

If your Wix site does not rank in position 1 for your exact brand name, sitelinks will not appear. Check your branded search position in GSC. If you are not #1, the issue is brand authority rather than site structure.

• Check if another website with a similar name is outranking you
• Verify your brand name is not too generic (e.g., "Best Plumber" will never earn sitelinks)
• Build more branded backlinks and citations to strengthen brand authority
• Ensure your homepage title tag starts with your exact brand name
• Verify your Google Business Profile is linked to your website

Problem 2: Pages Not Indexed

If your core sitelink candidate pages are not indexed, they cannot appear as sitelinks. Use the URL Inspection tool in GSC to check each page.

Checking page indexing in GSC

• Go to URL Inspection in Google Search Console.
• Enter the URL of each core page one at a time.
• Look for "URL is on Google" confirmation. If not, check the reason.
• Common issues: noindex tag set in Wix SEO settings, thin content, duplicate content, crawl errors.
• If a page is not indexed, fix the issue and request indexing through the URL Inspection tool.

Problem 3: Weak Internal Linking

Check the Internal Links report in GSC under Links > Internal Links. This shows how many internal links point to each page. If your core pages have fewer internal links than expected, your navigation and content linking need strengthening.

Problem 4: Structured Data Errors

Check the Enhancements section in GSC for any structured data errors. If your WebSite schema, Organization schema, or other structured data has validation errors, fix them immediately. Invalid schema can prevent sitelinks features from appearing.

How to Remove Unwanted Sitelinks

Google previously offered a sitelinks demotion tool in Search Console, but this was removed in 2016. You can no longer directly request removal of specific sitelinks. However, you can influence which pages appear by adjusting your internal linking and site structure.

Strategies to change which pages appear as sitelinks

• Reduce internal links to pages you do not want as sitelinks. Remove them from navigation if appropriate.
• Increase internal links to pages you DO want as sitelinks.
• Update title tags on unwanted sitelink pages to be less descriptive or brand-relevant.
• Make the title tags on desired sitelink pages more descriptive and user-friendly.
• If a page should never be a sitelink (like a thank-you page), consider adding noindex if it does not need to be in search results at all.
• Update your SiteNavigationElement schema to only include desired sitelink pages.
• Allow four to six weeks for changes to take effect in Google results.

Sitelinks Monitoring Routine

Monthly sitelinks monitoring checklist

• Search for your brand name in Google (both desktop and mobile, regular and incognito mode) and screenshot the results.
• Check branded search Performance in GSC: clicks, impressions, CTR, and position for brand queries.
• Review which pages appear in GSC for branded queries under the Pages tab.
• Check Coverage report for any new indexing issues on core pages.
• Review Internal Links report for changes in internal link distribution.
• Check Enhancements for any new structured data errors.
• Compare results with the previous month to identify trends.
• If sitelinks changed, assess whether the change was positive or negative and adjust strategy accordingly.

Sitelinks and Google Algorithm Updates

Google algorithm updates can affect sitelinks. During core updates, you may notice sitelinks appearing, disappearing, or changing. This is normal. If sitelinks disappear after an update, do not panic. Check whether your branded search rankings have changed, review any new Quality Rater Guidelines, and ensure your site still meets all the criteria covered in this module.