Google is aiming to make the most of the limited screen real estate on mobiles with the introduction of a new format for displaying the search results – rich cards.
As such, gone are the usual text-based search results. Instead, it is now rich cards comprising a combination of images and the most relevant information about the search keywords that users are being served with.
The cards are housed within a horizontal carousel and can be scrolled from left to right and provide for a visually more appealing search experience.
Further, users can scroll up to reveal more carousels while each carousel can contain cards from the same site or from several different sites.
However, the rich cards are only available for searches involving recipes and movies at the moment with English being the default language. Of course Google has stated the card format will be enhanced in scope to both include more language support as well as a more varied search option.
“Rich cards are a new Search result format building on the success of rich snippets.
Just like rich snippets, rich cards use schema.
org structured markup to display content in an even more engaging and visual format, with a focus on providing a better mobile user experience,” stated Google.
For the uninitiated, rich snippets basically refer to displaying a thumbnail image accompanied by a small description of the image to better describe it. Both Rich cards and Rich Snippets are a further evolution of Schema.org that Google contributes to along with Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex.
With most Google searches being attempted from mobile devices, Google is working to improve the search experience big time. Notable efforts in this space include the adoption of AMP project earlier in the year and which aims to display news articles much quicker than what it used to be before.
Google’s fortunes depend a lot on its search service and it’s only natural the company will do all it can to remain at the top here. And improving the visual aspect of its search results is one way the Mountain View Company is aiming at to lure more users to use its services while also presenting more targeted search requests.
