Google’s Upgrade Rich Snippets Feature (Rich Cards) – Is this Worthy for Website’s SERP?

Google’s Upgrade Rich Snippets Feature (Rich Cards) – Is this Worthy for Website’s SERP?

Google announced the introduction of novel SERP extensions via Webmaster Central in May 2016. It was the Google’s Rich Cards!

Presented as an enhancement of the Google’s Rich Snippets feature, the Rich Cards intends to enrich the search experience for search results, especially those obtained from the mobile search. With its discovery in the late 1990s, Google has made regular attempts to enhance the quality of output obtained from search results. Continuous advancements impact the analysing methodology of Google and also affect the optical display of commonly known as ‘snippets.’ The present search results with a title in blue, description in black and destination link in green colour went through their very first modification in May 2009, and since then the process is ever evolving.

Rich Cards – Google’s Implication to it!

Now that Google has already introduced 'Rich Snippets', it has provided search engine experts with an opportunity to improve search results visually and provide additional information like price ranges, reviews, and even images.

If we talk about the websites, then these extensions can be well displayed by adding up few markups in then website’s HTML code. For this, the experts need to insert tags using schema.org and allow the search engines to go through the data in an organized way and then enable it to process autonomously.

Rich Snippets are great as they can establish themselves in very less time. These days, most of the websites are using markups in their source codes to stand out in the search competition. For better returns, even Google offer its users a free tool that allows webmasters to identify if the markups on the page are integrated accurately. While there are numerous other features that help users to enhance search results, one great feature was introduced by Google in 2015 in the name of ‘Featured Snippet.’ It is a Google’s box that is exhibited abode or within the search engine results and provides an answer to a specific question or similar content. The key point about snippet is that it is packed with structure data in the form of answers to specific questions that are detailed on the website.

By bringing ‘Rich Cards’ in the frame Google has attempted to bring enhancement in search results. The additional space offered through this feature applies to both mobile and desktop search results, however, the primary benefit will be availed by mobile search.

Rich Cards – A Key to Gain Competitive Edge in Search Results

Google’s Rich Cards can make your website earn optimalonline visibility. It is because search results enhanced with rich snippets are attractive to the users. The internet users can better comprehend the content displayed on the subsequent website pages and this, in turn, plays a pivotal role increasing the probability of enhancing the site click rate.

Digital experts are already aware of the importance of confirming that their website’s (websites they are handling) rank higher in search engine result pages. The Rich Cards are showcased at the top of the search page, and hence, there are numerous advantages of presenting your website with rich cards to Google.

Before discussing the advantages, you need to know that while implementing rich cards is quite easy, presently, there is a constraint to availability. Only sites falling under the recipes and movies category will be able to grab the benefits. However, surely new updates are expected soon from Google indicating the availability of Rich Cards to other genres in future. Right now, let us check out the top benefits of employing Rich Cards from Google for website’s SERP:

·         Enhanced visibility in search results on major search engines

·         Possibility of achieving higher conversion rates

·         Possibility to gain more potential web traffic

·         Improved on-page appearance of the website

·         Greater levels of business brand awareness

·         Cost-effective way to build website’s online presence

Rich Cards Layout – When to use it?

A group of Google’s card is a layout of cards on the same area, with essentials provided to Polymer and Android developers. The characterization of cards within the layout set up is done by rounded corners. Google makes it mandatory to use the layout style only when displaying specific type of content, such as:

·         As a group, including multiple types of data like movies, text, images, content and more.

·         When to support is needed for variable length content like comments.

·         When structured data comprises interactive content, like comments of buttons.

·         When there is no direct comparison between text, images or other pieces of content.

·         The data is stored in the grid list but requires showcasing more content to support the image.

How Google’s Rich Cards enhances the Search Results – The Process

The search algorithm begins their process when GoogleBot crawl the internet from link to domain link. Digital experts can regulate the access to their website content that includes images and text that are revealed in the Google Knowledge Graph.

Next to this, Google utilizes artificial intelligence to analyse all the data and offer options to users to enhance their website’s results on SERPs. Visual results are more attractive to users, and hence, they tend to go through them, although search engines utilize numerous algorithms to enhance the user experience with features such as contextual based semantic signals, autocomplete and more.

The newest interface for most of the internet users is a Rich Card. Google is offering this layout either for a group of multiple items or for one single item that can provide enhanced search results in a way that spreads impressively across varying screen sizes and different devices. As per Google, it is wise to use these cards for improved website pages where the image is particularly highly important, particularly for websites related to movies or recipes.

Gaining Rich Cards – How you can go about it

Gaining Google’s Rich cards is a step by step process that SEO experts have to follow if they truly wish to capture a competitive edge for their website in major search engine results page. So beginning with it here is the first step:

Step 1 - Getting your website registered with Google

It is first essential to get your website registered with the Search Console of Google. It is an efficient tool that provides numerous ways to optimize the performance of your website in Search. This way you can ensure that your markup is free from errors and discloses page and date that produce rich cards. Businesses with adequate physical location can get their business registered with Google and make their business enrol into the Google Business Listing.

Step 2 – Preparing Schema Metadata for the Website

If you wish to describe your website’s content in a much more pleasing way, then you need to make use of Metadata. You may include basic details about your business like types or varieties of services you are offering. Google extracts this metadata from your website in two unique ways – either by establishing the domain of your website as a company authority or from schema markup that you illustrated in your content. Google instantly identifies the content metadata and adequate authority data to order features not only in results but also in its Knowledge Panel.

Step 3 – Make sure that Google Properly Indexes Your content

It can be troublesome to get a suitable position in the search results until and unless Google can adequately index your content. It is ideally a simple procedure that can occur without involving any additional efforts from external sources, like incoming links that aid is establishing trust and authority. You can utilize this process to help Google identify your content by utilizing proper SEO tactics, like paid search marketing.

Step 4 – Give the Best Possible Answer to Your User’s Search Intent

Before finalizing the content piece that is to be included in Search, you must first try preparing it in distinct visual forms. You have to be thoughtful in deciding how your content will be displayed in SERPs as it will affect the way Google displays your content in search results. The search experts prioritize the search intent of users and enhance its algorithms to better cater the requirements of users with a particular context or query.

Making it possible to feature your page in a winning answer is a technique adopted from schematic markup in the similar arena that Rich Cards are. You can, either way, offer your business with a great boost regarding traffic and search rankings. It is but essential that you must delineate a concept for implementation of structure data that also justifies with the novel web design requirements, techniques, and ideas, and importantly, include content pieces that the users actually want.

Ultimately, if you want to optimize the appearance of your website on search results, to win an edge in the competitive Google Search Arena, it is essential to focus on the core requirements of your users and to utilize the available tools and resources from Google to the best possible extent. The challenge here is mainly for all expert webmasters, who are always looking out for one or more way to bring their website at the top in search results.