October 13 : Removed the host group visual element from the Visual Elements gallery , as it no longer appears in Google Search results.
Visual elements are the building blocks of the Google Search results page that a user can perceive or interact with. The Visual Elements gallery is an illustrated guide to the most common UI elements of Google web search: it explains what the elements look like, what they’re called, and whether you can optimize your website for each element.
Anatomy of a Google Search results page
The Google Search results page contains a set of different types of search result visual elements, and each search result has its own set of possible child visual elements. For example, a text result is a visual element in its own right, and it has various child visual elements, such as attribution, title link, and snippet.
How the visual elements look can change over time, and a given result can be displayed differently depending on whether you’re using a desktop computer or a phone, what country you’re in, the language of your search query, and many other factors. Here are the most common types of search result visual elements that you might see in Google Search:
Attribution
Attribution describes the source of a search result, and can appear for a variety of search result types, including text, image, and video results. Attribution can include various aspects of the source, such as the name of the site, favicon, and URL to the web page.
Favicon
Site name
Visible URL
Domain
Fil d’Ariane
Text result
A text result (formerly known as a “web result” or “plain blue link”) is a result in Google Search that’s based on the textual content of the page. It includes visual elements such as attribution, title link, and snippet.
A text result may also include additional visual elements like rich attributes or a sitelinks group; keep in mind that a given text result may display differently depending on a variety of factors, like what device you’re using, what you searched for, or what language you’re using. You won’t see a text result that includes all of the possible visual elements.
Attribution
Title link
Snippet
Byline date
Sitelinks group
Sitelink
Text result image
A text result image is the most relevant image from that particular web page for the given query. Tapping it takes the user to the web page that’s embedding the image. A text result image is more likely to appear for image-seeking queries.
Rich attributes
Rich attributes are one or more lines of additional information about the web page, such as review stars and recipe information. This information is typically powered by structured data , provided by you.
Image result
An image result is a result that’s based on an image that’s embedded on a web page. It’s more likely to appear for image-seeking queries. To optimize your image for image results, follow the image SEO best practices .
Image thumbnail
Attribution
Video result
A video result is a result that’s based on a video that’s embedded on a web page. It’s more likely to appear for video-seeking queries. To optimize your video for video results, follow the video best practices .
Video thumbnail
Title link
Attribution
Upload date
Exploration features
Exploration features help searchers explore more questions or searches that are related to their original search query (also known as “People also ask”). While you can’t control what shows up here, it can be helpful to pay attention to the related search queries when you’re thinking about topics you could write about for your site.
Related searches group
A related searches group is a cluster of related searches that other people have done. Tapping or clicking a related search takes the user to another search results page. These searches are automatically generated based on the initial query and other things people have searched for.
Related questions group
A related questions group is a cluster of questions that are related to what the user initially searched for (also known as “People Also Ask”). When a user expands the question, they’re shown a featured snippet. Learn how to manage featured snippets .
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