Google announced at Searchology 2009 that it will be including “rich snippets” in some of it’s search results, which will include information on reviews (for products or services) or on people (to help you distinguish between people with the same name).  In order to display a Rich Snippet, Google looks for HTML markup data (RDFa or Microformat) and may display that data in the results. It is all explained in great detail in Google’s Webmaster Central Post on Rich Snippets. Only a few partners like Yelp, LinkedIn, and CNet will be included in the launch, but if it goes well, they plan to expand it quickly.
The data shows up in the results like this.  A search on “redbones, somerville ma”, turned up the Redbones site at first, and Yelp third:
To me, this is a more attractive and compelling listing than the standard listings, and should result in higher click through rates, making this a potentially very significant develpment for SEO. We will have to see how this affects the rankings, but  it certainly looks like an opportunity for sites that have strong reviews to increase their click through rate.  My guess is that Yelp and CNet are going to get a big boost from this, especially in the short term, until other review sites are included. Definitely something to keep your eye on.
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