Table rich snippets - need advice

by c00p
3 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Good morning warriors,

My question is a very particular one and kind of for advanced and experienced SEOs, so please, if you haven't done this yourself and achieved results - don't answer.

It's about table data rich snippets. I'm going to give you an example right away:

google.com => "tesla model S"

On the number 6 position, we get a result that looks like this:



As you can see, there is rich snippet data. This data actually comes from a normal regular HTML table that looks like this in the code:



Not a lot of SEOs know this, but as far as I've tested, getting this kind of rich snippet data actually derives from your table being indexed in the so-called Google Table Search, found here: https://research.google.com/tables

Here's what I've tested and found to be sure:

1) For the Gbot to see this table, it has to be in it's own sepatare <div> container. Something like this:

<div id="table_data">
<table>
...
</table>
</div>

2) This table element, let's call it, can actually be placed anywhere within the page <body> code and the Gbot will still read it. Yes, that means even hidden in AJAX, where the user has to click something like a button to visualize it.

3) You don't actually have to have rankings in the normal Google index for this rich snippet to be triggered. I've actually seen search results as far back as position 80 in the SERP and still triggering this.

4) Table data like this can go one step further and trigger knowledge graphs or cards in the SERP, if your website's position is in the first page of the SERP.

Even with all this knowledge I just shared with you, we just can't seem to get that dable data converted into rich sippets for our websites. We have #1 positions, we have flawless code structure, we have breadcrubs, structured data markup, AMP, huge traffic and this was done at least half an year ago. And even with all of that - we can't make it work...

Can anyone that has achieved this before share please, what am I missing? Where did I go wrong?
#advice #rich #snippets #table
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    It's hard to help you without seeing your HTML table code.

    Are you using a table row header? If not Google will assume you're only using the table for formatting the webpage layout instead of actually using it for data.

    Google is also looking at the text outside of the HTML table and giving higher weight to on-page text that's in close proximity to the table data.

    They also have a built in database looking for the same data attributes that was found on Freebase, example, Tesla is an automotive manufacture...
    • Manufacture | Tesla
    • Model years | 2012 - present
    • Assembly | United States: Fremont, California
    • etc...

    This is the same hierarchy algo. used for ranking webpages (without tables).
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  • Profile picture of the author c00p
    Sadly, I cannot share the website or the code. What I can tell you is that we actually have 2 types of table in the same page - both horizontal and vertical formats. And yes, we do use table row headers.

    My guess is, it has something to do with what you just mentioned about the content surrounding the tables. The interesting part is that none of these tables can be found in the index of Google Tables Search. Whereas some of our competitors, which have absolutely putriating websites, consisting of nothing but text and tables on their pages, are #1 in the Google Tables Search index . I don't understand that...
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    The easiest way to test anything on Google is to split test a bunch of new pages on the same domain.

    Forget your old pages for a minute and create a dozen or however many pages with variations. Keep the pages dirt simple, I mean nothing else except what you want to show on Google SERPs (ex: table SERP description).

    ...even If you have to copy/paste data directly from a known Wikipedia table that shows up on Google SERPs as a SERP description with table data.

    Don't worry about traffic or what anyone will see on the test pages, just do the test until one of the pages triggers the results on the SERPs that you want.
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