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Google Structured Snippets Officially Live In Search Results

Barry Schwartz on September 22, 2014 at 12:24 pm

Earlier this month, we caught Google testing a form of knowledge graph data within the search results snippet. This feature is now officially being confirmed by Google on the Google Research Blog.

Google calls these “structured snippets,” where Google will show snippets of data, relevant to the query, within the snippets of the search results. Google says the data is “powered by the Knowledge Graph and other data sources.” Here is a screen shot of what it looks like:

You can replicate this result yourself by searching for [nikon d7100] and looking for the dpreview.com snippet. The structured snippet part of this result are the factual elements, specifically:

Sensor resolution (type): 24MP CMOS
Weight (with battery): 765 g (1 lb, 11 oz)
Display size / resolution: Fixed 3.2″, 1.2…

Google explains:

The WebTables research team has been working to extract and understand tabular data on the Web with the intent to surface particularly relevant data to users. Our data is already used in the Research Tool found in Google Docs and Slides; Structured Snippets is the latest collaboration between Google Research and the Web Search team employing that data to seamlessly provide the most relevant information to the user. We use machine learning techniques to distinguish data tables on the Web from uninteresting tables, e.g., tables used for formatting web pages. We also have additional algorithms to determine quality and relevance that we use to display up to four highly ranked facts from those data tables.

Postscript: See our new story named Where You’ll Find Google Structured Snippets: From Superheroes To Product Specifications.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.