![The indexation of a website: [Part 2]](https://ludismedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/INDEXING-A-WEBSITE1.png)
In one of my previous articles, I talked about getting your website indexed with Google. This first step is crucial. It’s the basic thing to do when you want your website to show up on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP`s). We all know that the primary search engine for most countries is Google. Luckily, Google implemented a way to make the search results richer, which drives more attention to them. This little difference can have a great influence on the CTR (click-through-rate). There are plenty of ways to make your results more attractive. Here are a few things you should think about when implementing “Authorship” on your website in order to have more visibility when a user is searching Google.
Rich Snippet on Google’s network
Google authorship
This is mostly implemented in the blog section of your website. It is a good way of presenting the writer to your readers as it gives them an insight on who the writer is and what they do. Plus, implementing a google authorship snippet at the bottom of your articles will allow google to include the picture of the author in the SERP :
Visitors to your site enjoy reading about opinions and user generated content (UGC). It creates a community which adds authority and value to your site. The rich snippets from Google also add value, visibility and clarity to your article content. If your site can build up authority in the niche, it will increase the impact and click through rate of your content by building confidence, while also improving the reputation of your content in the SERP. Note: Anyone interested in implementing this feature on your website and to have it populate in the SERP results, authors need a Google + account to tie in. Google has a great tutorial on how to set it up for your website here.
Reviews snippet
This snippet will display the user’s appreciation in your SERP. It’s good to have other people rating your website and content. The audience likes to read other people’s thoughts about a specific product or a company. You can gain their trust by having a good review portfolio. Here’s how you can set up reviews on your website and have Google place the results in the SERP.
Sitelinks
Depending on the relevance and the popularity of your website, Google can decide to show more than the actual homepage of a specific website (note that this happens mostly when you search for a brand name) in the SERP. You cannot request this process. It happens naturally and Google controls the implementation decision. Those other links you would see below your main link listing in the SERP page are called “sitelinks”. Below is an example of what it looks like in the red box (please note that in the example below, there are more than just the sitelinks snippet added):
We can clearly see that the result has twice the impact than a normal search result and link would have, offering visiting traffic more options to information from your company page, which is awesome for visibility purposesa dn the user exerience! Please note that although you can`t request sitelinks, you can manage sitelinks that have been added by Google. You can find that information here Site links can be managed in Google Webmaster Tools in the search appearance section
Breadcrumbs
A breadcrumb is feature used in website design now to improve navigational positioning. This really helps people visiting and using the site, by clearly labeling and letting the user know exactly in what section of the site he currently is on and leaves them with the opportunity to go back to a page (or section) they have already seen. Google decided in their SERP results to include snippets and to list this “breadcrumb” feature thus, improving Google`s user experience and click through rate. Below is a sample of what a “breadcrumb” looks like:
Here’s a tutorial on how to set it up a breadcrumb on your website.
Google Places
By adding your company to Google Places, mostly when someone are searching for your brand and when the user makes the search within the serving area of the company, a map may be displayed with your company location pin pointed on it. It also provides a link directly to the Google Maps feature in case you require directions to that specific location. It also adds a sidebar with your company’s information in it. The information is normally gathered from the Google + page of the enterprise. Here’s a sample of what it looks like: 
PRO TIP: Google has a tool that allows you to test your rich snippets!
Google Data highlighter
Google created a useful tool that allows you to define the parts of your website, and tells Google what it is exactly. Instead of editing the code of your website and defining each section by adding an HTML tag, this user-friendly tool lets you specify what the sections of your website are about and segment’s the content of a unique page into multiple different content sections. You can use it if you’re not too familiar with coding and programming languages.
Google Structured Data
“The Structured Data page in Webmaster Tools shows the structured information that Google was able to detect on your site. It also provides information about errors in page markup that may prevent rich snippets (or other search features) from being displayed.” (source : Google Support center)
The excerpt above explains what Google’s Structured Data is all about. Basically, it’s allows you to verify the implementation, as well as track and report on any errors.
Visibility is important on the internet and companies should always try to be more innovative than their competitors to be ahead of the curve. You goal is to stand out! You will get there by having a much more detailed SERP listing than your competitors? The structured data (or rich snippets) feature will allow you to get a leg up on your local and national competitors. If it’s not done already, start taking about taking advantage of that SERP’s best practices for rich snippet implementation.
Latest posts by Alexandre Calderon
- Guide to monitor your websites carefully - 28 February 2014
- The indexation of a website: [Part 2] - 10 January 2014
- Inbound Marketing Best Practices – How To Present Your Offers To Your Audience - 13 December 2013
- Why Google+ is important for SEO? - 11 November 2013
- Using Ajax without harming SEO - 6 November 2013
