Rich Snippets: What Are They and How Do You Get Them?

Rich snippets are created based on structured data that is available for certain pieces of content. The data is formatted and organized in a way ... MichalPecánekMarketerandcontentwriteratAhrefs.AddictedtoSEO,aviation,fragrances,sushiandtacos.ArticlestatsMonthlytraffic445Linkingwebsites178Tweets80DatafromContentExplorerShowshowmanydifferentwebsitesarelinkingtothispieceofcontent.Asageneralrule,themorewebsiteslinktoyou,thehigheryourankinGoogle.ShowsestimatedmonthlysearchtraffictothisarticleaccordingtoAhrefsdata.Theactualsearchtraffic(asreportedinGoogleAnalytics)isusually3-5timesbigger.ThenumberoftimesthisarticlewassharedonTwitter.SharethisarticleSubscribeforweeklyupdatesEmailSubscriptionSubscribeLeavethisfieldemptyifyou'rehuman:ContentsDoyouwantyourwebsitetolooklikethisinthesearchresults?Insteadof this?Inthisguide,you’lllearn:WhatrichsnippetsareWhenrichsnippetsshow upThedifferencebetweenrichsnippetsandrichresultsHowrichsnippetsimproveSEOHowtogetrichsnippetsNewtoon-pageSEO?Checkout ourBeginner’sguidetoon-pageSEOWhatarerichsnippets?Richsnippetsarevisuallymoreappealingsearchresultswithadditionalvaluableinformationdisplayedalongsidethetitle,description,andURL. Theextrainformationcomesfromstructureddataonthe page.Whendorichsnippetsshow up?Richsnippetscanonlyappearforpageswithcertaintypesofinformation,andtheycanbelimitedfurtherbyadevicetype.Forexample,“howto”richsnippetscanonlybeshownonmobiledevices:What’sthedifferencebetweenrichsnippetsandrichresults?Youmighthaveencounteredtheterm“richresults,”whichisoftenusedinterchangeablywith“richsnippets.”SERPsarerathercomplexthesedays.JustlookatthepollresultswhenIaskedwhatpeoplethinkthisiscalled:Votehere:—MichalPecanek(@michalpecanek)March31, 2020There’sdefinitelynotaconsensus.The“SERPthing”inthepictureaboveisofficiallycalledaninteractiverichresult…DefinitionfromGoogle’ssearchgallery.…orisitan“enrichedsearchresult?”Google’slackofconsistentterminologycertainlydoesn’thelpmattershere.Here’sourtakeonthe terminology:Richsnippets:Regularsearchresultswithadditionalinformationdisplayedalongsidethetitle,descriptivesnippet,and URL.Richresults:Anytypeofvisually-enhancedsearchresultwithinformationpulledfromrelevantstructureddata.Richsnippetsareatypeofrichresult.SERPfeatures.Anythingthat’snotatraditional“bluelink”searchresult.Featuredsnippets,PPCads,tweetboxes,andKnowledgePanels arealltypesofSERPfeatures.HowrichsnippetsimproveSEORankinghighinsearchresultsisgreat,butwhatultimatelymakespeopleclickthroughisthecontentofthesnippet.Richsnippetshelpmakeyourwebpageslookmoreenticinginthesearchresults.Thatfirstsnippetisarguablythemostenticingbecauseitusestheproductschemamarkup toitsfullpotential.Itestablishestrustandenticestheclickbyhavingthemostreviewsanddisplayingthe price.Youcanalsousetheseattributes,suchasprices,thenumberofreviews,ratings,orcookingtimesforrecipesasanothercompetitivelayerintheSERP.They’regivingyoumorespacetoenticeclickswithinformationthatmatters.Forexample,Icanimaginemorepeopleclickingonaproductresultthatrankssecondbutischeaperthanthefirst one.However,let’sbeclearabout this:Whilehavingvisuallyattractivesnippetsmayleadtomoreclicks,richsnippetsare notarankingfactor.HowtogetrichsnippetsRichsnippetsarecreatedbasedonstructureddata thatisavailableforcertainpiecesofcontent.ThedataisformattedandorganizedinawaythatmakesiteasyforGoogletounderstandanduseitforSERPsandotherpurposes.So,insteadofGooglehavingtoextractkeyinformationfromsomethinglike this…Itwilltake20minutestomakethepancakes.Evenbetter,thesearelow-caloriepancakes—around80perserving. …theyhaveitinastructuredformatthatresemblesthis:cookingtime:20minutes calories:80 YoucanseehowthesecondexamplewouldbeeasierforamachinelikeGoogleto read.Now,whenwerefertostructureddatainSEO,weusuallymeantheschema.orgvocabulary usedtomarkupyourcontent.Googlemaythendecidetousethismarkuptoenrichyoursearchresults.So,howdoyouimplementthismarkup,andwhattypesofcontentcanyouapplyit to?Here’showtogetthemostoutofrichsnippetsinfoursimplesteps.1.Checkwhichrichsnippetsarerightfor youFirstofall,standardsearchresultsnippetscanalreadyofferquiteagoodoverviewofthecontent.Forexample,inthecaseofmostofourarticles,there’snothingmuchthatcanprovideadditionalvalueforthe user.Forinstance,whatelsewouldyouneedbesidesthetitle,description,andURLforablogpostlike this?Theprocessofgettingrichsnippetsiswell-documentedbyGoogle.Thatincludesthetypesofcontentthatareeligibleforsearchresultsenhancements.Hereisthelistofthemostcommonusecasesforrichsnippetsmarkup:“Howto”markupProducttypemarkupReviewsmarkupSoftwaremarkupFAQmarkupTherearemanymoreoptionsthanthis,buttheyapplytoquitespecificwebsitecategoriesliketherecipesthatyousawinthebeginning.Therest are:News,media,andentertainmentBooksEducationEventsDatasetsJob-relatedcontentIfanyofthecategoriesseemrelevantforyou,goovertotheofficialdocs, checkthepossibleenhancementsandfeaturesforyourcontenttype,anddecidewhetherthat’ssomethingworthimplementing.Fortherestofus,let’staketheFAQmarkupasanexampleandgothroughtheimplementationprocessthatcanresultinsomethinglike this:ImplementingFAQrichsnippetsisquiteapopularmodernSEOtacticofgettingmoreSERPrealestate.Eventhoughit’slistedundertheProducttype,itcanbeusedonanypagethathasanFAQsection.2.ImplementstructureddataIt’seasytocreatethemarkupanddeployitregardlessofhowyourwebsiteis built.Let’sstartbypresentingthemoststraight-forwardmethodofdeployingthecodeintothe

sectionofyourwebsite.You’llwanttouseoneofmanyschemamarkupgeneratorsforthis.Ichosethisone andselectedtheFAQPagemarkupcreation: {  "@context":"https://schema.org",  "@type":"FAQPage",  "mainEntity":[{   "@type":"Question",   "name":"Isitdifficulttoimplementsuchmarkup?",   "acceptedAnswer":{    "@type":"Answer",    "text":"No,notatall,there'salotofpluginsandmarkupgenerators."   }  },{   "@type":"Question",   "name":"DoSEOstakeadvantageoftheFAQmarkup?",   "acceptedAnswer":{    "@type":"Answer",    "text":"Yes,it'squiteapopulartactic.WhileitcanprovidealotofvalueintheSERP,SEOstendtooveruseittotheextentwhenit'sagainstGoogle'sguidelines."   }  }] } YoucanalsouseGoogleTagManager todeploythis code.Justremembertoonlyaddschemafor content that’svisibletousersandadheretoGoogle’sguidelines fortheselectedschematype.Forexample,youshouldn’tuseFAQmarkupforadvertisingpurposes,anditneedstobewrittenbythesiteitself.Sidenote. I’musingJSON-LD(JavaScriptObjectNotationforLinkedData)markupformathere.You’llalsocomeacrossmicrodataandRDFa.Don’tusethem,stickwithJSON-LD.That’swhatGoogleofficiallyrecommends,andit’salsotheeasiestandleastmessyformat. ButwhatifyouuseaCMSwheredeployingcustomcodeisrathertroublesome?Ifyou’reusingWordPress,plugins havegotyoucovered.Structureddataissupportedinmulti-purposeSEOpluginslikeYoastorRankMath,orthereareevenpluginsmadejustforschemaimplementation.YoastisfineforthebasicslikeFAQand“howto”schema,butyou’llneedamorespecializedpluginfor thewiderspectrumofschematypes.Aftergoingthroughfreeversionsofthemostpopularplugins,Ilikedtheuserexperienceandmarkup optionsofRankMath themost.StickingwithYoastandourFAQexample,theprocessisverystraightforward(andidenticaltoRankMath,actually).YoujustselectanFAQblockwhencreatinga page……andfillinthequestionsandanswers:Deploymentprocessesdependonthepluginandtheschematype,there’snomagicshortcutorone-fits-allguideforthis.Justgothroughthedocumentationofthepluginofyourchoice toseehowitworkswithyourchosenschematype.3.ValidatethemarkupUsingmarkupgeneratorsandpluginsalreadymakesthemarkupdeploymentprocesskindoffoolproof.Butit’sagoodpracticetorunitthroughGoogle’sRichResultsTestingTool.Thiswillimmediatelytellyouwhetherthecodeorpageiseligibleforrichresults.Keepinmindtheword“eligible”becauserichsnippetsarenotguaranteed.YoucanalsouseaURLinputifthemarkupisalreadyinproduction.That’sgoodforarbitrarychecksbutuselessforsitewidemonitoring.4.Monitormarked-uppagesforperformanceanderrorsGoogledoesn’tholdbackeveninthisregard.EverythingthatyouneedhereisinGoogleSearchConsole.Youcanfilteryourperformancereportsbythetypeofrichresults:AndseealltheeligiblemarkuptypesthatGoogledetectedonyour site:ClickingonarichsnippetsenhancementtakesyoutoareportshowingURLsthatarevalid,invalid,andhavewarnings.Ifyou’vealreadyvalidatedthemarkup,thenyoushouldn’tencounteranyproblems.Thegreatthingaboutthisisthatyoudon’tneedtosetupanything.ItwillappearinGSCafteryoudeployedtherichresultsmarkupandGooglepickeditupbycrawlingthose pages.FinalthoughtsGettingmoreattentionandclickswithrichsnippetsisgreat,butkeepinmindthatthestructureddatabehindthemispartofsomethingmuchbigger.GoogleusesstructureddatatohelpbuildtheKnowledgeGraph.It’sthisthathelpsGoogledelivermorerelevantsearchresultsanditalsofeedsothertypesofSERPfeatureslikeKnowledgePanels.UnderstandinghowtheKnowledgeGraphworks,andhowtouseittoyouradvantageisacrucialSEOskilltohavenowandintheyearsto come.Ifyouhaveanyquestionsorremarks,feelfreetopingmeonTwitter.CopylinkArticlebyMichalPecánekContributorsMarketerandcontentwriteratAhrefs.AddictedtoSEO,aviation,fragrances,sushiandtacos.ContributorsLikewhatwedo?Comeworkwithus