Back in December, Google announced an update to the top stories section and some of those screen shots showed descriptions, not just an image and title and site name, in the snippet section of the top stories. Well, now I see descriptions in some top stories cards.
Brian Freiesleben spotted this and posted it on Twitter asking if it is new. Well, Google announced in a couple of months ago but I am not sure if it is just going live now.
I did a search for [Nancy Pelosi] - who is probably trending now in search - and some of the top stories cards have descriptions in the snippet box. Here is a screen shot from my iPhone:
I had to scroll to see them, but I do. And so does Brian:
“Top stories” showing short snippets for AMP articles and including author info in the SERP. I don’t see this often - pic.twitter.com/LBuWfqRFSS
— Brian Freiesleben (@type_SEO) February 5, 2020
I kind of like them with descriptions. You?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: Another example in 2024:
Haven't seen this before: 'Top Stories' in Google SERP with a small snippet description under the headline.@rustybrick pic.twitter.com/fcLKvrOBI0
— Shameem Adhikarath (@shemiadhikarath) November 26, 2024