Google Search Listing with Eye Catching Graphic

@mikenhOct 23.2015

In a Google search, I saw the use of an eye catching checkmark, pasted below (with different fonts, obviously).
Where and how did they enter the info in order to have it flow through to the Google search?
Is there a downside to such a gimmick, such as a Google penalty?
Thanks.

√ The Cinque Terre: hotel and accommodations, maps …
~~[url]~~www.cinqueterre.com/en/[/url]
The Cinque Terre: hotel booking B&B, touristic guide, pictures and maps. Plus video and latest news on the blog.

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@Kevin2Oct 23.2015 — #It's in their <title> tag:

&lt;title&gt;[COLOR="#FF0000"][B]&amp;radic;[/B][/COLOR] The Cinque Terre: hotel and accommodations, maps, guides and news&lt;/title&gt;

No answer about any penalty. But they don't show up on page one on a search for "Cinque Terre Hotels"

@mikenhauthorOct 24.2015 — #Thanks for the starting point. I got it after some fiddling as I'm using Google Blogger.

@Bruce_KenwayOct 26.2015 — #It's really helpful. Eye Catching graphic is quite new and not everyone understands it.

@richardstevensOct 27.2015 — #

1. Unique, Relevant Page Titles

Use as many characters as possible. That's prime real estate!

A good character range to work with is 50-65 characters. Google search results will truncate right around the 65 character mark.

Pixel width of your title tag should be considered, because words with wide letters such as A and W won't be able to fit as many characters. Google will completely ignore anything past the 70 character mark and potentially report a “Long title tag” error in Google Webmaster Tools.

Your page title should be unique and relevant to the topic of your page. Include your targeted key phrases as close to the beginning as possible and, if it applies, localize your page title.

2. Search Engine Friendly URLs

If your domain name has your targeted keyword(s) in it, that's a bonus, however, don't go out of your way to buy an exact match domain name and get caught up in the exact match domain algorithm.

Utilize search engine friendly file names and permalink structures to make your listing more relevant, for example, /awesome-web-page/. URLs, for example, ?pageid=246, don't say anything to the user and won't help your rankings.

3. Enticing Meta Descriptions With a Call-to-Action

Your meta descriptions won't have an effect on your rankings, however, this is your chance to encourage searchers to click your link over your competition's.

Your descriptions should range from 100 to 150 characters. Use them wisely. Anything shorter or longer might result in an error reported in Google Webmaster Tools.

Describe what the page or service is about and then ask the user to do something with a call-to-action (CTA). In my example, I include my phone number and mention that we pick up the phone (you'd be surprised how many companies don't).

4. Google Authorship

Google authorship is one of the most effective ways to make your search result stand out from the others, especially if nobody else in your niche is doing it. If you Google anything SEO related, the SERPs are peppered with faces; however, if you're in an industry that is less tech savvy, like construction or real estate, you could likely be the only one with your face in the search results.

Authorship is pretty easy to implement. If you haven't already claimed your content with Google authorship, follow this tutorial to find out how.

5. Google Local

Optimizing your website and brand for local can be very beneficial whether it's for a huge company or a small mom-and-pop shop. You can review the accuracy of your business listings with tools like GetListed.org.

Claiming your business listings and filling out your profiles completely help Google to understand more about your business. Businesses with more citations from high-quality websites will rank higher.

By helping Google understand the link between your business listings and your website, you are more likely to have the map listing shown just below your search result.

6. Personalized Annotations

Google tries to make recommendations more discoverable to those who would find them most useful. Because people trust their friends' recommendations, personalized annotations display who have already +1'd a webpage or blog post.

You can increase the likelihood of these annotations to show up in search results by adding a +1 button and a Google+ badge on your page.

Inline annotations aren't currently supported in mobile browsers.

7. Google Reviews

A great way to increase your local search rankings is to simply ask your customer and clients for Google reviews.

Make asking for a Google review part of your process. About 10 percent of my company's clients actually take the time to submit a website design review. While I'd like to get a review from 100 percent, the ones who do add up over time, and those gold stars really stand out in the SERPs!

Most service industries have the luxury of hand-picking who they ask to submit a review. On the other hand, restaurants and hotels, for example, have to take a different approach by monitoring their reviews and find ways to address unhappy customers with resolutions that will hopefully turn those poor reviews into great reviews.

@Kevin2Oct 27.2015 — #Oh Yay!! Another copy/paste post.

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2299964/7-ways-to-make-your-google-search-result-stand-out

@gaurav_goyalOct 27.2015 — #Great kavin nice catch.?

@mikenhauthorOct 27.2015 — #..and old: Google authorship is long gone. I updated some titles to begin with an HTML Graphic "&#9972" = Ferry Boat, but it hasn't carried through to any Google search results though other changes have.

@Kevin2Oct 27.2015 — #It's possible that Google filters based on this list:

http://dev.w3.org/html5/html-author/charref

@mikenhauthorOct 27.2015 — #Thanks, it may well be - my competitor's square root symbol is on the list but my ferry symbol is not.

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