2 replies to this topic

[Mikl]

In Google's recent redesigned results page, thumbnail images now appear next to the snippet text for some sites - but not all. I'm trying to understand how Google decides when to show a thumbnail, but I can't see any logic in it.

Case in point: I have a page that contains a recipe for a dinner dish. The page includes a photo of the dish in question. The photo's filename is the same as the name of the dish, as is its Alt tag. The page is generally optimised for that same name.

This page appears in the top three results in the Google search page - but without the image itself appearing. Other sites, which appear just above or below my site, do show an image thumbnail. But unlike my page, the images on these sites don't have meaningful names, and the Alt text is either missing, or is something generic like "picture submitted by user".

So why does Google choose to show their images and not mine?

The reason I am asking this is that I assume that, if people are looking for a recipe, they are more likely to click through to a page where they know they can see a picture of the end product. (Is this a valid assumption?)

Thanks for any comments.

[qwerty]

It may just be coincidence, but all of the recipes I'm seeing with images next to their snippets also have reviews associated with them. I'm seeing a few with images and without the reviews mentioned in the snippets, but when I click through to the page, there are the reviews.

[Mikl]

It may just be coincidence, but all of the recipes I'm seeing with images next to their snippets also have reviews associated with them.

Well I'll be durned. I'm seeing the same thing. Surely, must be coincidence?

It certainly doesn't make me want to start accepting reviews of my recipes. That's the last thing I want on my site.