Google announced it is expanding support for rich results within Question & Answer pages on the web. This is something Google tested a year ago and is now more widely expanding according to Google.
How do rich results in Q&A format look? Google shared the screen shot above, showing a carousel of answers available to a snippet that asks a question. Google also is able to show the “top answer” based on certain criteria. Here is a screen shot from Google with a “top answer”:
Google adds Q&A structured data. To expand on the format above, Google has added a new structured data type named Q&A pages. Google said, “We have developed a new rich result type for question and answer sites.”
What types of sites does Q&A structure data work for? Google said this Q&A structured data works for sites that have pages that are already in a question and answer format. The examples given include social news sites, expert forums, and help and support message boards.
How do I implement this? Google shared a link to the developer resources on this new structured data type. You can also test the structured data over here.
Why should you care? Rich results can help amplify the display of a search result among many other search results. If your snippet has a carousel with answers that a searcher can scroll through, it might drive a higher click through rates to your site than the standard blue link result or normal search result snippet.
About The Author
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.