The image above shows how the Google Rich Cards differ from the Rich Snippets: when it comes to structure, Rich Cards are more similar to the Product Listing Ads that Google rolled out at the start of the decade. These display at the top of the search engine results pages for mobile devices. But, unlike these, Rich Cards are actually part of the organic search results display. Rich Snippets display in a more traditional way, with results arranged underneath one another like in the standard results pages. It remains to be seen which way the new search results will be laid out in future now that Google has to juggle between paid ads, Rich Cards, and other, more traditional display results.
The focus of the new results format lies in the presented image that accompanies the search result. Just like with Snippets, Rich Cards offer some or all of the following additional information in the search results:
- Duration of the cooking time or the film
- Number of calories or credited actors
Rich Cards and Rich Snippets also both include an external link to the website where the content is displayed. But the short teaser, known as the ‘Description’ is excluded from Rich Cards in favor of a more compact format and a larger image display.
The third distinct difference between the two has been discussed already: Google only displays Rich Cards on search results pages responding to queries made on mobile devices. So if you search on a desktop PC, you’ll only be shown Rich Snippets at present. There’s currently no information available about whether Google plans to keep this separation or explore a Rich Cards desktop format as well.