Google is now displaying the number of days you can return a specific product at a merchant directly in the search results snippet. Google shows a short section right under the main snippet for some search results that says “30-day returns” or “15-day returns” and so on.
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot that I was able to grab of this in action:
How does it work. It is unclear exactly how to show this return attribute in Google Search but I suspect it is from the Google Merchant Center data feed you submit to Google as part of the newish Google Shopping experience card. Google may also pull this information from structured data on the page or just from the page text itself. Again, it is not clear, as Google has not commented yet on this feature.
Why we care. Displaying the return policy and length in the search results may drive more clicks to your site over your competitor that does not show the return policy. Also, if you have a shorter return policy than the competitor’s snippet below yours, it may lead to fewer clicks on your snippet. This is something to track and be aware of as more and more merchants show this attribute in Google Search.
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About The Author
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.