As advent in the tech-sector goes on, Google has never failed to upgrade its features, we can notice a drastic change in the Google SERP (search engine results page). The results displayed have now become more customized, with the help of predictive analysis tools and come with many additional features, information and bitmaps, that are popularly known as the rich Google snippets.
What do you mean by Rich Snippets?
The enhanced search results displayed by search engines, such as Google, Yahoo on their results page are referred to as rich snippets. In contrast to the obsolete search engine results, rich snippets are very eye-catching and visually appealing as they draw an exponentially higher amount of user’s attention. Usually, structured data such as a table, chart or graph is used by the web developers to create snippets for their websites, in order to gain a high number of audiences.
Although nowadays there are number types of rich Snippets, you can read about the most widespread ones below:
Sponsored features:
Adwords (top & bottom)
Adwords ads came into existence in 2000, and have become an inseparable component of Google SERP. Earlier they used to appear in the desktop SERP towards the right, but now they appear above and below the organic search results. You can include add-ons such as contact details, backlinks, directions, reviews and ratings to create an impactful ad with higher CTRs.
Recommended for: Entire range of businesses.
Pros: It helps you gain higher CTRs and audience.
Cons: You need to pay a charge for every click in PPC ads.
Implementation: You can avail them only by setting up a sponsored ad in Google Adwords, but before that, you must know about the strategies, competitors, and the per-click charge.
Shop on Google
This is often addressed as Product ads or Product listing ads. To make them more eye-catching, they are set above the organic results. Each product depicts the image, price, and rating and on clicking, you are redirected to the corresponding e-commerce site or Google Shop.
Recommended for: Retail businesses and e-commerce sites
Pros: This is a one-stop solution for retailers as these ads have an average ROI of 542%.
Implementation: A Google Adwords account and a Google Merchant centre are the two prerequisites; you can link them together according to the guidelines.
Local business features:
Map pack
A Map Pack has pins on the local business locations, it can be found in the news-feed or on top of the results. It comes with various filters and sorting options based on reviews, ratings, and so on.
Recommended for: Entire range of businesses
Pros: Businesses are displayed based on their location; this brings a superb audience and direct bookings.
Implementation: Yet again you need a Google My Business page. Make sure that the location is relevant, as it displays the results based on the user’s current or intended location.
Similar places list
This feature answers search queries such as “Chinese restaurants near me” or “gyms near me”. It is driven by Google places attributes that club similar kinds of local businesses. If displays Google Maps app with the list in the left section of the screen and the featured businesses locations on the map.
Recommended for: Local ventures such as restaurants, hotels, etc
Pros: You can benefit even when one of your competitors is being observed or searched.
Implementation: Yet again you need a Google My Business page. You cannot influence it, as it is driven by Google’s algorithm. Generally, business with higher place descriptions is displayed in this list.
Knowledge features:
Featured snippet
It is more popularly known as “Position zero”. It gives a straight-forward answer to the user’s search query, for example, “How to write a check?”.
Recommended for: Entire range of businesses, Blogs, fractographic websites in particular
Pros: It appears at a very prominent place that is above the organic results. Usually the top seven positions of the search results are occupied by Featured snippets.
Cons: If you are in a SERP with a “featured snippet” and you are excluded from the featured list, it might reduce the CTRs.
Implementation: Write content on topics that are usually queried by people, DIY articles can be suitable.
Knowledge graph
Knowledge graph depicts detailed pictorial information about entities like companies, famous persons, books, movies, songs, places, retrieved from the various authoritative sources such as CIA World Factbook, Wikidata, or Wikipedia.
Recommended for: Entire range of businesses. To be specific- personal blogs, POIs, knowledge websites.
Pros: Although there are no direct benefits, yet there are a few indirect benefits like gaining the trust of the users.
Cons: If the answer is mentioned in the knowledge graph, the user won’t click on the search result.
Implementation: There is an inbuilt-structured data markup available for highly authorized websites.
Media features:
Tweet
Many times, a twitter account with the latest tweets may appear in a SERP. This happens in cases of trending issues or current affairs, for instance, IPL, elections, movie releases, and so on. If you Google about famous people, their latest tweets are displayed in the SERP.
Recommended for: News portals, general companies and brands.
Pros: An efficient way of getting more audience, especially for news channels and celebrities.
Implementation: You can create a Twitter account and tweet about the trending social problems, if you’re a famous person or company owner, people will definitely be curious about your option.
App ranking
You can get the link to your content included in an app with a very higher ranking. On clicking on the icon user gets navigated to the play store link. Your app will be displayed when the user searches a general app, as in, “recipe apps”, “note-making apps”, and so on.
Recommended for: Businesses with mobile application strategy, like news portals, stream services etc.
Pros: Higher CTRS, better user-experience, more app installations, higher engagement.
Implementation: Firstly, design your app to be open for “universal links”.Secondly, Map your content.
Vertical enhancement of organic results:
Events
Most of the organic results include the timeline of the popular upcoming events such as a band display,music-show, concerts, exams and so on.
Recommended for: Music bands, movie releases, shows, festivals, exams, etc.
Pros: Increased CTRs and visual appearance.
Implementation: By using structured data.
Search query features:
People also ask
This snippet is used in SERP to answer user’s queries like “How to ride a bicycle”.Although it is less popular as compared to the featured snippet, it co-exists with the featured snippet.
Pros: “People also ask” snippet draws audiences to your website.
Implementation: Same as a featured snippet.