Google Ads Sitelinks Creation Page Bug With Prefill Functionality

Feb 26, 2025 - 7:51 am 0 by
Filed Under Google Ads

Google Ads

Google Ads had a bug with the sitelinks creation page, where the prefill functionality was not working right. Google confirmed the issue and said it was "very limited and was not widespread."

The issue was reported by Chris Brewer who posted on LinkedIn showing how Google was prefilling in his competitor's URLs into the sitelinks. He wrote, "Just uncovered something wild—Google auto-generating sitelinks that recommend competitor landing pages in our ads." "This could mean ad dollars unknowingly funneling traffic to competitors—a huge risk for brands running automated sitelinks. If you're using them, double-check ASAP," he added.

Here is a screenshot he shared:

Google Ads Sitelinks Competitor Bug

Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liason, wrote in response a week later, that "The team has investigated and this was due to an issue with our prefill functionality that provides suggestions for review on the Sitelink creation page."

She explained that "This issue did not impact dynamic sitelinks or other automatically generated asset functionality."

Adding it was not a widespread issue, "It appears to have been very limited and was not widespread."

Did you notice this with your ad accounts?

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Login Service Pages Are Hard To Rank In Search

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google AI Overviews For Movie Queries

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Rolling Out Smart Bidding Exploration To Some Advertisers

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:21 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Sitelinks With Light Gray Underlines

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:11 am
Web Analytics

Google Analytics Real Time Reporting Broken Again

Jul 17, 2025 - 10:40 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 17, 2025

Jul 17, 2025 - 10:00 am
Previous Story: Google Local Service Ads Booking Links Now Charges Like Calls Automatically