TLDR: Mobile Search Results with Photos – Define the thumbnail image that you want Google to display in mobile search results using Structured Data.
A couple of years ago Google’s “mobilegeddon” convinced most of my clients that a mobile friendly website was worth the investment.
Last year, Google’s threatened “Mobile First” update scared a few more into protecting their site’s traffic and upgrading.
Mobile first has come and gone and Google is adding new features to mobile SERPs that you can either get excited about or let it be another excuse to wait until someone else has your position, traffic, and business.
Photos in mobile search results
Mordy Oberstein of RankRanger reports today that they are seeing a big increase in page one SERPs showing image thumbnails (Mobile results). This appears to apply to products AND services over the past few days .
In addition to enhanced local results and carousel results, mobile search is now offering more engaging SERPS. Whether the image drives the top 10 result or makes the result more clickable doesn’t matter. Making your listing more visual has the power to drive more traffic and business.
What to do?
You tell Google about the thumbnail image using structured data. There are several different techniques, each site may have a different type of data that fits better. You can get started by reviewing Google’s Custom Search Help here.
~JoMarie
Also Read:
Report: Google’s mobile search results now show image thumbnails 45% of the time
Barry Schwartz, SearchEngineLand
