As you probably know by now, you need to create high-quality content to get more traffic.
That’s why people spend days writing and perfecting their pages. But when it comes to posting that content, most of them forget about the page’s search appearance. So their links look very unattractive and don’t get many clicks.
This means that all these hours of work were almost wasted.
So how could you differentiate yourself on a search engine results page to make people click on your link instead of your competitor’s?
Bear with me, and I’ll show you how to turn an ordinary search result on the left into a click magnet on the right with!
What Are Rich Snippets?
Rich snippets are additional data that can be displayed along with the search result. They draw more attention to the link and can increase the CTR (click-through rate) up to 87%!
Google typically pulls that information from the structured data markup found in the page’s HTML.
By default, this markup is not generated by page builders, and it’s something that has to be added manually for each page.
Rich snippets help Google and other search engines understand what your page is about and show it more often for relevant queries. For this reason, it’s crucial to choose the right type of rich snippet for a page; otherwise, it will hurt your ranking.
Types of rich snippets:
There are over 30 types of rich snippets in Google’s Guidelines, but most of them do not apply to the majority of websites. So for our purposes, we’ll look into 9 most popular types of rich snippets and when to use each of them:
#1 How-TO Snippet
The “How-To” snippet shows a sequence of steps to complete a required task, which will likely apply only to blog posts. It’s usually displayed as a total number of steps at the top and the 3-4 first steps below it, but it can also feature video and images.
#2 Reviews Snippet
A review snippet is usually displayed as a star rating from 1 to 5 based on an average rating of reviews from different sources. It can be used for books, courses, local businesses, movies, products, recipes and software apps.
#3 Product Snippet
This type should be used only for the actual products to display price, review ratings, availability, shipping information, and more in search results.
Although, from my experience, even though Google does not recommend it, this type is the only one that can get you review stars for your local business. So you can use it for service and location pages.
#4 Local Business Snippet
It helps Google understand the basic information about the business, like name, logo, address, and contact information.
This one is a must for any local business because it helps you establish consistency in NAP (name, address, phone number), which is very important for local rankings.
#5 FAQ Snippet
FAQ snippets show a list of questions related to your page’s topic. They can also help you show up in the “People Also Ask” section.
They are easy to implement, and you should definitely use them on all information and service pages. The only thing here is to track that you don’t have the same questions on different pages because it will confuse Google.
#6 Recipes Snippet
As the name suggests, this type should only be used to display a summary of a recipe. With this markup, Google can show reviewer ratings, cooking and preparation times, and nutrition information near your link.
It also helps Google categorize your page better and show it as a recipe not only in search results but also in Google images.
#7 Movie Snippet
Movie snippet usually shows the basic details about the movie: release date, box office, runtime, director and rating. This type is obviously only for movies and can be helpful if your website collects reviews like Rotten Tomatoes.
#8 Course Snippet
Course snippet usually shows multiple courses from one vendor, including details like course name, who’s offering it, and a short description. This one is self-explanatory as well.
#9 Video Snippet
Video snippet is one of three ways for Google to understand what your video is about. The other two are info from the video hosting platform (title, description, tags) and a speech-to-text analysis of your video.
Google is constantly pushing videos on top of search results for informational queries, so video markup is a great way to increase your chances of appearing in Google Search results, video search results, Google Images, and Google Discover.
What’s the difference between rich snippets and rich results?
“Rich snippets” and “rich results” are often used interchangeably in the SEO world, but they’re not quite the same.
Even in the examples above, “Local Business Snippet” is actually a rich result.
The difference between the two is quite visual:
- Rich snippets appear near the link and show additional information about a specific page or post.
- Rich results usually appear on the side of the page or on top of search results with other similar things.
For example, let’s take “Event Snippet”:
As you can see, it shows more than one result of the events for a specific date, and it’s nowhere near a traditional text link.
The same can be said about “Featured snippets,” which are called “snippets” but have no markup and are chosen by Google automatically:
How To Create Rich Snippets?
Now that you know how rich snippets can help you, it’s time to show you how to actually add them to your web pages.
The process is pretty simple, and there are tons of tools that can help you with it.
#1 Create Structured Data Markup
To save you some time, I won’t show the specific code for each type of rich snippet because the process is the same for all of them: you generate the schema code and paste it into your page.
Adding Schema Markup manually
First, generate schema in any online service like TechnicalSEO or Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.
Choose a type of schema on top (1), then fill in the details (2), and you’ll get the final result on the right (3).
Then, add structured data into the <head> tag of the page where you want it to be.
Adding Schema Markup With a plugin
Plugins can make it much easier, and other are tons of free options if you have a WordPress site:
They can help you generate schema and paste it on pages you choose automatically.
The only word of caution when you use plugins, is to avoid site-wide schema. Since all of your pages and blog posts can’t be about the same thing and of the same type, they shouldn’t have the same schema.
#2 Test With The Structured Data Test Tool
Once you’ve added your schema, it’s time to test the actual pages to make sure everything is set up correctly.
There are 2 ways you can do it:
- Using Google’s Rich Results Test tool
- Using Schema.org Validator
In both tools, the process is the same: you paste your URL into the search bar and click “Test URL.”
You’ll get this screen with the results of the test, and if there is an error, the tool will show you what needs to be fixed.
Keep in mind, though, that this setup doesn’t guarantee that Google will display rich snippets for your page in the search results. It’s up to Google to decide when and how to show these snippets.
But if you have no markup, they won’t shop up at all.
#3 Monitor the Page For Errors in GSC
Finally, once your schema is set up and validated, make sure to check for “Enhancement” errors at least once a month.
Since you’ve validated your structured data code, you shouldn’t see any errors there for quite some time, but it never hurts to check it.
At the moment of writing, the “Enhancements” block is located at the bottom of the “Overview” tab and in the left menu, but Google tends to change the design every now and then.
Final Thoughts
Rich snippets are a great way to increase your SERP real estate and attract more clicks and more customers. They’re easy to implement and test with schema generator tools and plugins, and the only step where you can make a mistake is choosing the right snippet type.
If you’re trying to do Search Engine Optimization yourself and find it extremely confusing, contact us for help! We will provide you with a free SEO audit and assessment of your current strategy, as well as give you tips on how to improve it so you can grow your search traffic, appear higher in search results and get free leads.
FAQ
What is a rich snippet?
A rich snippet is additional information that is displayed below each link on the search engine results page. It’s not automatically generated by Google for every page and has to be added manually using schema markup.
What does the rich snippets test tool do?
The Rich Snippets Test Tool analyzes the schema markup on the page and shows whether it’s valid or not. If it’s not valid, the page won’t have rich snippets on the search engine results page (SERP).
What are rich snippets in Google results?
Rich snippets in Google results are additional information that is displayed below each link on the search engine results page. They help Google understand the page better and increase CTR (click-through rate).
How do I get rich snippets?
To get rich snippets, you need to identify the right type of snippet you need for a page, then generate a schema markup code and paste it into the <head> tag of your page.
What is SEO Rich Text?
SEO Rich Text is content that’s been optimized for search engines in an attempt to increase its chances of ranking. This optimization includes using relevant keywords on a page, selecting the right URL structure and meta tags and configuring structured snippets.
