10 Google Search Result Styles and How to Earn Them

When you type a query into Google, the results page can look very different depending on the site. Some results are plain text links, others have little navigation menus, expandable panels, image galleries, or star ratings. These aren’t random—Google decides which style to show based on what it finds in your page’s content and structure.

The good news: you can influence which style you get. The logic is simple—Google can only display what your page actually contains. If you want a richer result, you need to give Google the right data to work with.

The 10 Styles, From Plain to Rich

1. The Plain Snippet

The most common style. Four parts: domain name, URL path (directories shown level by level), title, description. Every result starts here. If your page has nothing special, this is what you get.

2. Single-Line Sitelinks

Some results show extra navigation links under the main result — like “Downloads” and “Converter” for a tools site. These aren’t taken from your site’s nav menu. Google picks them based on what users search for and click most. To earn them: have links from your pages to inner pages, and make sure those inner pages get real traffic. No traffic, no sitelinks.

3. Multi-Line Sitelinks

Same idea, bigger format: multiple rows of links, each with a short description. Sites with strong, well-trafficked sections get these. It takes more screen space and pushes competitors down.

4. The Search Box

Some branded searches show a site search box right in the result (V2EX is a classic example). Google grants this when: your site search runs on Google’s site search, the search box sits at the top of your homepage, and enough people actually use it. Google decides it’s useful, and it appears.

5. The FAQ Accordion

Collapsed questions that expand on click. These come from QA sections on your page — help centers, FAQ pages. Google figures users want answers before they click, so it pulls your QA content into the result. Want this style? Put a real QA list on your page. That’s it.

6. The Gallery

A row of images between the title and the description. Requirement: your page must contain a list of reasonably large images. Product pages and photo-heavy tutorials earn this naturally.

7. The Side Thumbnail

A large thumbnail on the right side of the result. Needs one big, relevant image on the page. It can appear alongside sitelinks.

8. The Table Description

The description area rendered as a table instead of plain text. Google does this when your page content is clearly tabular — specs, comparisons, price lists.

9. Review Stars (The One Worth Chasing)

Yellow stars next to your result. Users assume Google rated you, so they click. It’s the highest-impact style on this list.

How to earn it: put exactly one rating component on the page, then submit structured data. Add a <script> tag in your <head> with type="application/ld+json" containing the rating JSON. Google’s original intent was to help users decide on pages people actually rate — product pages, course pages, tool pages. But the mechanism works the same for anyone who implements it correctly. Real examples: two resume-tool site owners added rating widgets plus JSON-LD, and stars showed up.

10. Bottom Structured Info

Extra facts under the description, like Wikipedia results show. The source is a structured data table on the page (Wikipedia’s infobox, for example).

The Bonus: Image Position

Sometimes images appear above the results — even before the first result. That slot is valuable. Two requirements: the search query must be image-related, and your page needs large images with alt attributes on every img tag.

The Core Logic: What You Show Is What You Get

Here’s the mental model. Google can only display what your page actually contains. No data, no rich style.

Before JSON-LD existed, Google already extracted structured displays straight from page content — because most pages never wrote JSON. Today Google supports both: it reads your application/ld+json script tags, and it still parses visible content.

So the workflow is:

1. Learn which styles Google supports (you just did).
2. Look at your own pages: what data do you already have?
3. Decide which style benefits you most, and shape your page to earn it.

For details on every supported type, read Google’s structured data docs (developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data).

Quick Checklist

• Every important page has unique title and description
• Key pages link to inner pages that get traffic (sitelinks)
• FAQ/help content is a real QA list on the page
• Pages that should show images have large images with alt text
• Rating pages have exactly one rating widget + JSON-LD in head
• Spec/comparison pages use real tables

Answer “no” to any of these, and you know what to work on next.

Remember: the goal isn’t to game Google. It’s to make your site’s content so clear and structured that Google can’t help but show it in the best possible light.

Series: Overseas Website Building