It’s All in the Look  - Google Snippets and Authorship

Have you noticed that some of your Google search results have gotten a facelift? For those smart enough to listen and make some changes according to the almighty Google, their results have a new look, which to the end user, makes it easier to identify the pages most relevant to their search.  Snippets and authorship have been introduced. Snippets are a few lines of text that appear under every search result, providing insight as to why the result is relevant to the query. (“Rich Snippets…,” 2013). Authorship is displayed in results by inserting an author’s image and links into search engine results for their work, which must be verified through a Google+ account (Antkowiak, 2012).

In the grand scheme of things, these changes do have a domino effect on search engine optimization (SEO) and online marketing. Below I will outline how snippets and authorship improve SEO and online marketing.

Snippets
It would behoove any company to install snippets. First and foremost, you are providing users with the most-pertinent information about your content even before they click through to the page, empowering them to choose the most relevant result. Secondly, sites that use snippets have higher click-through rates (CTRS). Many companies that have implemented snippets claim an increase of 20-30% in CTRS, which can be attributed to the aesthetics of the format. (Narayanasamy, S., 2012).

Additionally:

·         Snippets bring more qualified traffic to a site. If a user knows exactly what they are getting when they click on your page via a snippet, the less likely they are going to bounce and spend more time on your site.

·         Results with snippets have higher visibility within the search engine results pages (SERPS).

·         Products, reviews and prices are displayed within the snippet. (Narayanasamy, S., 2012).

Snippets resemble free pay-per-click ads, thus enhancing visibility. It’s a win-win for any marketer. I can see how Google’s constant changes can be annoying; especially if you are a business with limited resources, but it’s a shame to throw away free marketing.  Snippets will be the norm are part of semantic web, where the web will know exactly what you are searching for (Neubarth, M., 2012).

Authorship
Another recent Google enhancement is authorship. Of course, to enable this feature, you must be verified through Google+. Before you let out a big sigh, membership does have its benefits. “These enhanced results receive a higher click-through rate compared to more traditional results because of three factors: Visibility,Placement, and Trustworthiness,” (Antokowiak, 2012).

Source: Antkowiak, D. (2012). Google authorship: are you taking full advantage of it? Searchenginejournal.com. Retrieved from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-authorship-are-you-taking-full-advantage-of-it/51142/

·         Visibility: People are visual and results with images are sure to garner more clicks (especially if the author is good looking) (Antokowiak, 2012)!  From a marketing perspective, I think users will feel a more personal connection if there is a face attached to a name and in the long-term can increase loyalty if the user feels a kinship.

·         Placement: Seventeen percent of Google results include at least one instance of author verification within the first 100 search results (Antokowiak, 2012). 

·         Trustworthiness: Author-tagged results look exclusive. Only 9 percent of tech blogs implement it correctly (Antokowiak, 2012).

  

Here are some links to get you started: https://plus.google.com/authorship#authorship and http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99170. These simple updates can help you get ahead of your competition by marketing your pages in a more user-friendly manner. And, with the advent of the semantic web, this may not be an option in the future, but a requirement to make sure you are indexed in Google.

References:Antkowiak, D. (2012). Google authorship: are you taking full advantage of it? Searchenginejournal.com. Retrieved from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-authorship-are-you-taking-full-advantage-of-it/51142/.

Narayanasamy, S. (2012). A visual guide to rich snippets. Seomoz.org. Retrieved from http://www.seomoz.org/blog/a-visual-guide-to-rich-snippets.

Rich snippets (microdata, microformats, RDFa, and Data Highlighter). (2013). Retrieved from http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99170.

Neubarth, M. Rich snippets: http://www.business2community.com/seo/rich-snippets-the-wave-of-the-future-for-seo-0133386