What Google lists
We read Google's search gallery on 9 October 2026. It was last updated on 4 February 2026. Google calls the pieces of a results page visual elements. It lists five common types of result:
- Text result: a result based on the text of a page. Google says it used to be called a web result or a plain blue link.
- Rich result: a result that usually uses structured data on the page to show graphics or interactive parts. See schema markup.
- Image result: a result based on an image embedded on a page.
- Video result: a result based on a video embedded on a page.
- Exploration features: parts that help people widen or narrow a search, such as related searches and related questions, known as People also ask.
The gallery also says, for each element, whether you can optimise your site for it.
Featured snippets and AI features
Two more are worth knowing. Google's page on featured snippets says they are special boxes where the format of a regular result is reversed. You cannot mark a page as one.
Google's AI features page, last updated on 10 December 2025, covers AI Overviews and AI Mode. It says a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet to be a supporting link. It says there are no additional technical requirements, and no special optimisation or new files are needed. Traffic from these features is counted in the Web search type in Search Console. Read more under AI Overviews.
A made-up example
Take a search for how to clean a brass lamp. On a given day, the results page might show a featured snippet, a group of related questions, a video result and several text results. On another day, it might show only text results.
Google decides what to show for each search. Features come and go, so no site owns one for good. We list only the types Google names, because we did not confirm a longer list on its pages.
How to use this
This part is our advice, not Google rules.
- Search for your own main phrases and note which features appear.
- If a video result shows, think about whether a short video on your page would help the reader.
- If related questions show, check whether your page answers those questions.
- Check Search Console for clicks and impressions, not only for where you sit on the page.
Common mistakes
- Chasing a feature your readers do not need.
- Adding structured data that does not match what is visible on the page. Google says to keep it consistent with the visible text.
- Blocking snippets by accident with a nosnippet rule.
- Believing there is a secret tag that gets you into a feature.
- Judging success only by position, when other kinds of result share the same page.
Related terms
- SERP (search engine results page): the page of results Google shows after a search.
- Featured snippet: a box that shows part of a page before the link.
- AI Overviews: AI-written summaries that Google shows for some searches.
- Schema markup: code that labels details on a page for search engines.
- CTR (click-through rate): the share of people who clicked after seeing your result.
To find which features appear for your own phrases, begin with an SEO (search engine optimisation) audit, or read about the SERP.
Sources
- Google Search Central, "Search gallery" (developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/visual-elements-gallery), last updated 4 February 2026, read 9 October 2026.
- Google Search Central, "Featured snippets and your website" (developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/featured-snippets), last updated 10 December 2025, read 9 October 2026.
- Google Search Central, "AI features and your website" (developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), last updated 10 December 2025, read 9 October 2026.
