Last updated on
In a recent SEO Office Hours podcast, Google’s John Mueller addressed how to increase the visibility of product rich results in search results. He outlined four key factors essential for achieving rich results for product listings.
Product search queries can lead to rich results, which Google terms as Search Experiences, showcasing products in a visually engaging way.
Google’s product search experiences may include:
The person asking the question wanted to know how to increase the number of “product snippets in Search Console,” which puzzled Mueller since product snippets appear in search results rather than Search Console. Consequently, Mueller addressed the question in the context of search results.
The question was:
“How can I increase the number of product snippets in Search Console?”
John Mueller clarified that there are four key factors to ensure eligibility for product rich results:
Mueller emphasized that improving these aspects can enhance the chances of having product rich results featured.
Getting a page indexed and ranked can be challenging for certain search queries. Many individuals facing this issue often have content quality problems stemming from outdated SEO tactics, such as replicating existing top-ranking content with minor improvements. This approach frequently results in content that isn’t significantly different from what Google already ranks.
Both page-level and site-level content quality are crucial. Instead of just focusing on keywords and entities, aim for content that offers extra value—like enhanced images, useful graphs, or more concise information. This approach generally yields better results.
This is another reason why some sites might lose their rich results or fail to obtain them. Google periodically updates its structured data guidelines, and while most structured data plugins adjust to these changes, there are instances where they do not. If you encounter issues with rich results, start by using Google’s Rich Results Test tool.
It’s also important to understand that properly implementing structured data does not guarantee that Google will display rich results for your page; it only qualifies the page to be considered for rich results.
This is an aspect that Google doesn’t explicitly address. However, if you’ve reviewed materials like Google’s review systems, quality guidelines, the SEO Starter Guide, or the Search Quality Raters Guidelines, you should have ample information to understand content quality issues.
Google doesn’t always explain why it might choose not to display an image thumbnail or a product in rich results. In my view, troubleshooting these issues is more effective when approached as a content quality problem. Remember, images are content too. Even if it’s not text, it still contributes to the overall content. Assess all content—whether images, products, or other elements—based on how they might appear in search results. Does it look appealing as a thumbnail? Is the content distinctive, helpful, or useful?
John Mueller also mentioned that submitting a merchant feed is another method for having products from a website appear as rich results on Google.
Mueller explained:
“You can also submit a feed to your Merchant Center account to display products there. This process is somewhat separate and has different requirements, which I’ll link to. Often, a CMS or platform will handle these tasks for you, making it a bit easier.”
Although John Mueller outlined four methods for achieving product rich results—Google Search Experiences—it’s not always as straightforward as 1, 2, 3, and 4. There are often nuances and complexities to consider.
Original news from SearchEngineJournal
