This document summarizes how Google search results are evolving to include more semantic data through direct answers, structured snippets, and rich snippets. It provides examples of direct answers being extracted from authoritative sources using natural language queries and intent templates. It also discusses how including structured data like tables, schemas, and markup can help search engines understand and display page content in a more standardized way. While knowledge-based trust is an interesting concept, current search ranking still primarily relies on link analysis and does not consider factual correctness.

1. Semantic SEO: Evolved Query
Results
Bill Slawski
March 17, 2015
Lotico San Diego Semantic Web
meetup

2. Once Upon a Time…10 Blue Links

3. Google Query Results are Evolving
because of Semantic Data
• Direct Answers
• Structured Snippets
• Rich Snippets
• Knowledge-Based Trust?

4. Many Results now come in the shape
of Direct Answers

5. Or a mix of Hybrid Results

6. Direct Answers are mentioned in
Google’s 2014 Financial Statement!
Now we are increasingly able to provide direct
answers -- even if you’re speaking your question
using Voice Search -- which makes it quicker,
easier and more natural to find what you’re
looking for.
Google FORM 10-K for 2014 (For the Fiscal Year Ended
December 31, 2014)

7. Direct Answers are from Authoritative
Sources
• In some implementations, the search system
may perform offline processing of
authoritative sources to determine and store
answers to common clear-intent non-factual
questions.
• ~ Natural Language Search Results for Intent
Queries

8. Direct Answers are Extracted from
pages, as described in this patent
Natural Language Search Results
for Intent Queries
International Application
No WO/2014/197227
Published:11.12.2014
International Filing Date:
23.05.2014
Applicant: Google
Inventors: Tomer Shmiel, Dvir
Keysar,
and Yonatan Erez

9. Authoritative Sources are:
• Sites that are frequently selected in Search
Results for a query involved in the Direct
question
• Site Contains high ranking query terms related
to the query

10. Answer pages are found using Intent
Templates
• How do I treat $X
• $X treatment
• How is $X treated
• How to cure $X

11. A Headings/Answers DataStore is
Collected from those sources

12. The Formatting of Answers Matters
• The format of the Answer helps determine
which answer is being presented
• Does it answer the question?
• Does it fit in the space allotted? (like a query
snippet does on a results page.)

13. The Benefits of Having a Direct Answer
• An Additional Chance to be in Search Results
• Being Seen as “authoritative” by being an
answer
• An Answer is formatted differently than other
results; more likely to draw attention

14. Extractable Resources
http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en/us/pubs/archive
/34460.pdf (This paper was the provisional patent for the natural language search results Patent)

15. Two Column Tables (Wiki Infobox)

16. Relational Tables

17. Colon Delimited Pairs

18. Tables as Extraction Sources
http://yz.mit.edu/papers/webtables-vldb08.pdf

19. Structured Snippets

20. Google Table Search
https://research.google.com/tables

21. Facts from Tables appear in Snippets
Applying WebTables in Practice: http://www.cidrdb.org/cidr2015/Papers/CIDR15_Paper3.pdf

22. Help w/ Structured Snippets
• Use Tables on your pages filled with data
• Use markup like Table Headings<th> for rows
of the tables
• Use Titles and captions descriptive of the
Table’s data
• Use Associated text on the Page the table is
about to help Google better understand it.

23. Rich Snippets
About rich snippets and structured data

24. To Be eligible for Rich Snippets, you
need to use Markup on your pages.
Rich snippets guidelines

25. There are a limited number or markup
types for Rich Snippets
• Reviews
• People
• Products
• Businesses and organizations
• Recipes
• Events
• Music

26. Schema Markup
http://schema.org/Restaurant

27. Marked up Search Results

28. Schema Markup Customizes Results
Generating specialized search results in response to patterned queries

29. Adding Data to Get Evolved Results
• Semantics adds meaning to Search Results
resulting in richer Search Results
• Google may Extract Data from Sources on the
Web like Web Pages, knowledge bases, and
Tables
• Some Data can be added to pages using Schema
markup to provide rich snippets

30. A Shift in the Air?
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1502.03519v1.pdf

31. Authoritative Answers
• Presently use link signals to identify highest
ranking pages those sources are found at.
• What if they used correctness of facts on
pages instead – a knowledge-based Trust?

32. A New Way to Choose Authority
Sources?
The quality of web sources
has been traditionally
evaluated using exogenous
signals such as the hyperlink
structure of the graph. We
propose a new approach that
relies on endogenous signals,
namely, the correctness of
factual information provided
by the source. A source that
has few false facts is
considered to be trustworthy.

33. Knowledge-Based-Trust Not a factor
Yet.

34. “We have lots of people doing
research…”
Google webmaster Evangelist John Mueller speaking about Knowledge-based Trust.