Google continues to enhance search results for its consumers with more information served in various formats to ensure any given query is answered as quickly as possible. Consumers will come to Google to seek out information surrounding a wide variety of topics. Google had introduced Quick Answers to better serve consumers with relevant information in an efficient manner. Now, Google is introducing results that show snippets of information from sites where users ask and answer each other’s questions. These sites include social news sites, expert forums, and help and support message boards.
With these results from question-and-answer sites, Google developed what they refer to as rich results or rather enhanced and informative search results. Depending on the query, Q&A pages will display a preview of the top answers from the forum within the results. This opens numerous strategies for brand owners to reach the right users for their content. By ensuring this result shows up from a brand forum or support page, consumers can better receive relevant answers to their questions faster.
Google has also added Q&A structured data markup to these kinds of pages that ensures eligibility for these results. Structured data, or microdata, is a form of code added within a site’s source that provides search engines with key information about the theme of the page in which it lies. With the introduction of Q&A results, an addition to the proper structured data must be utilized as part of the overall strategy when aiming for this enhanced information for consumers.