The SEM Post

Latest News About SEO, SEM, PPC & Search Engines

You are here: Home / Google / In-Depth Articles Return to Google Search Results

In-Depth Articles Return to Google Search Results

at PST By

in depth articles back serpsA few weeks after Google removed all In-Depth Articles from the search results, they are now returning.  Yesterday I spotted multiple search results that are now showing In-Depth Articles once again, after losing them earlier this month.

They have returned with the same most recent styling Google was using.  They are separated from regular search results with very thin lines, with the descriptions only being 2 lines long.  Last year, they used to show both thumbnails and longer descriptions, as well as a header stating they were In-Depth Article results.

Here are examples:

in depth back 1

in depth back 2

Aaron Friedman also posted screenshots on Twitter.

Not all queries I used to see In-Depth Articles for are showing them now, and some are only showing up for a longer tail version.  So it is possibly Google has reduced the percentage of results showing them, or increased the criteria of search queries that trigger them.

Once Mozcast updates for the day, I will include the data.  While Google had once shown these results for as much as 13% of the search queries, according to Mozcast data, most recently it was about 7%.

Mozcast fluctuated In-Depth Articles from o% to 0.1%, but Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz was never able to see it in the live results.

Google never commented on the loss of the In-Depth Articles in the search results, so it isn’t clear why they were removed or why they have returned.

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profile

Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

Sign up for our newsletter