A Guide to Google Rich Snippets Testing - Hire Digital

After you marked up your content for rich results, the Rich Results Test tool is a way to verify if Google sees your website as you wanted to. Published19Apr2021AGuidetoGoogleRichSnippetsTestingAmongmanytoolscreatedbyGoogletoanalyzeyourwebsite,promoteit,andmanageyoursearchenginepresencethere’sonerelativelyfreshtool–RichResultsTest.Whatisit?Howtouseit?Andwhy?Let’stakealook.ReadnextHowtoUseGoogleAnalyticsWithGoogleDataStudioHow-tos AmongmanytoolscreatedbyGoogletoanalyzeyourwebsite,promoteit,andmanageyoursearchenginepresencethere’sonerelativelyfreshtool–RichResultsTest.Whatisit?Howtouseit?Andwhy?Let’stakealook. Whataretherichresults? Richresultsformerlyknownasrichsnippets(orstructureddata)areenhancedresultsinGooglesearchwithextravisualorinteractivefeatures.HaveyoubeenlookingforthebestChristmasmovierecently?Beforeregularsearchresults,there’sagalleryofpopularmovies.Areyoulookingfornewrecipes?Again,you’llseeagalleryatthetop. Richresultsfor“christmasrecipes”. Basedontheseexamplestherearetwoobviousconclusions: RichResultsareextremelyvisibleandcangetasignificantpercentageoftraffic.“It’saWonderfulLife”istheBestChristmasMovie. Whoshoulduserichresults? Mostcontentcreatorsandwebsiteownerscanbenefitfromrichresults.It’snotonlyformoviecatalogsorculinaryexperts.There’savarietyofusecasesandcategoriesyoucanusetoletGoogleknowwhatkindofdatayourpagesincludeandwhatrichresultsyouwouldliketouse. Forexample: Breadcrumbs–anavigationdatatoletpeopleknowwhereinthesitehierarchytheywilllandJobPostingandEstimatedSalary–toshowyourjobofferstraightintheGooglesearchresultsRecipe,Books,Movies–theseareobviousandverypopularexamplesHow-toandFrequentlyAskedQuestions–astepbysteptutorialorseriesofquestionscanalsoshortenusers’pathtothedesiredoutcome. Browsingallcategoriesinasearchgallerycanprovideahighchanceoffindingsomethingusefulforyourtypeofcontent. Bytheway,thisisnottheonlywaytoincreaseyourvisibilityatSERPs.LearnmoreabouthowtooptimizeyourcontentforGooglefeaturedsnippets. Whyuserichresults? Although,Googlerepresentativesmentioneditwon’taffectyourrankingdirectlythere’salotofbenefitsofrichresults.ItwillimproveyourorganicCTRbecausetheyappearabovethetextsearchresults.Somepeoplecallita“positionzero”soit’sanothernametoremember.  Also–theylookcool.Theseboxes,ofteninacarouselmode,sometimeswithstarsorinteractiveelementsaremoreengagingthanregularresultsandagain,willbringmoreattentiontoyourcontent.Sometimestheycovermostofthefirstscreensothebenefitisobvious. Evenifit’snotarankingfactoritmaybeinthefuturesoifyoursiteiswell-optimizedandmakessearchenginerobots’life(?)easier–itcertainlywon’tharm. Andbecausetheycontainspecificinformationanduserswillknowexactlywhattoexpectfromthepage,itshouldimprovethepost-clickexperienceaswell. WhatistheRichResultsTesttool? Afteryoumarkedupyourcontentforrichresults,theRichResultsTesttoolisawaytoverifyifGoogleseesyourwebsiteasyouwantedto.ItcameoutinJuly2020andreplacedtheoldStructuredDataTestingToolwhichisultimatelydownfromDecember14th,2020.  Basically,thetoolwillgothroughyourwebsiteandcheckifyouhavestructureddataonyourwebsite.Ifyoudoitwillshowyouiftheyareeligibleforrichresultsorwhatismissing. Remember–ifyouhavecontenteligibleforrichsnippetsbutyouhaven’tusedstructureddata–theRichResultsTestwon’tsuggesttoyouwhatkindofsnippetsyoucanuse!Youmustfigureitoutonyourown.Itwillonlyshowyouifyourimplementationiscorrectornot.  Frompositivenews–youcanuseboththeSmartphoneorDesktopversionofGooglebot(notethatthemobileversionisthedefaultoneinmostGoogleservices.Isitadefaultoneforyoutoo?) YoucanalsopastetheURLofyourpageorsimplypastethecodesoyoucanseeifyourstructureddataarecorrectevenbeforepublishing. RichResultsTesttoolavailableforbothmobileanddesktop HowtoimplementandverifyRichResults? Let’sgothroughoneexampletogetherandtestthetestingtool(soit’sakindofameta-test?) 1.Findoutwhatpageanddatashouldbeoptimizedforrichresults WehaveanarticleontheHireDigitalblogdescribingcreatingdashboardsinGoogleAnalyticsandGoogleDataStudio.Inthesecondparagraphcalled“HowtocreateaGoogleAnalyticsdashboard”there’sashorttutorial.  Aperfectcandidateforimplementing“Howto”structureddataforrichresults.  2.ScanthepagewiththeRichResultsTesttoolbeforemakingchanges WeseethepageisalreadyoptimizedforArticleandBreadcrumbsandthat’sokbutwewanttoimplementHow-todataaswell. Pageoptimization 3.Implementstructureddata TheHow-tocategoryinrichresultsgalleryandtutorialscanguideyouonwaystoaddandimplementstructureddata. Aswecanseeintheofficialdocumentationtherearetworequiredproperties:“name”,and“step”andabunchofrecommendedpropertieslike“estimatedCost”,“tool”,“video”,etc.  Forthelearningprocesslet’sfocusontherequiredpropertiesandwecanalwaysaddsomemorelater.  AfteraddingafewHTMLtagsandvalues,ourcodeisreadyforreview.Isuggesttestingthecodefirstandthenafterseeingapositivemessage–updatingthepage. Addingstructureddata RichResults–GoodPractices Howtodoitinpractice,whattoavoid,howtostart?Hereareafewsuggestionsonhowtoworkwithrichresults. 1.Keepaneyeonupdates Googleisconstantlychanging.Eventhenamesarechangingasyoucouldnoticeinthefirstparagraphofthistext.Sokeepaneyeonavailablecategories,recommendedimplementationmethodsandyourowncontentstructureandusersbehavior.  2.Startfromyourtopcontent Ifyourarticleisonthe10thpageinGoogleit’shardtoseeanyincreaseintrafficafteroptimizingitforrichresults.AcorrectimplementationmaytaketimesostartwithyourtopcontentandfollowtheParetorule.Youmightsee80%oftheresultsafteroptimizing20%ofyourcontent. 3.UseGoogleSearchConsole InGSCyoucanseereportsforindividualrichresultsonyoursite.GotoyourGSCaccountandinthe“Enhancements”sectionyouwillseethestatusofyourimplementation.Inthe“Performance”sectionunderthe“Searchappearance”tab,youcanalsoseewhichrichresultsgeneratedclicksandimpressions.  GoogleSearchConsoletabs 4.WatchoutforWordPress IfyouedityourarticlesinWordPress,keepinmindtheWPeditordoesn’tlikemessingwithHTMLsotoaddaseparatelineofcode,youneedtouseaspecialelementcalled“CustomHTML”.Ifyoutrytoeditthecodeoutsideofthiselement,WordPressmayinterferewithyourcodeand,forexample,auto-closetagsinthewrongplaceswhichwillruinyourimplementation.  That’sbasicallyit.IfeellikeImentioned“richresults”100timesinthistext.NotbecauseIlovekeywordstuffingbutbecausetherearesomanynamesforitbutseemslikethisoneisacorrectone(fornow)soit’sworthrememberingitbecausetheycanreallyboostyourresults!IwishyouhighCTRsandconversionrates.  RichResultsFAQWhataretherichresults?Richresultsformerlyknownasrichsnippets(orstructureddata)areenhancedresultsinGooglesearchwithextravisualorinteractivefeatures.Forexamplemoviesgalleryorrecipesdisplayedabovetheregularsearchresults.Whyuserichresults?TheymayimproveyourorganicCTR,theylookcoolandtheymayimprovethegeneraluserexperienceofyourusers.Theyprobablydon'taffectSEOrankingsdirectlybuttheydefinitelywon'tharmeither.HowtoimplementandverifyRichResults?Findoutwhatpageanddatashouldbeoptimizedforrichresults,useGooglerichresultsgallerytoseethedocumentation,andafteryouimplementchangesyoucantestitwiththeRichResultsTestingTooltomakesureeverythingworksfine.KeywordsJointhehighestperformingtalenttodayApplyNowReceiveinsightsfromHireDigitalforfree.SubscribetodayEmailAddressSubscribeNolong-termcontracts.Nocatches.Starthiringtalentsondemandnow.LearnMoreGetStartedLatestBlogPostsToolandstrategiesmodernteamsneedtohelptheircompaniesgrow.ViewallpostsHow-tosHowtoUseGoogleAnalyticsWithGoogleDataStudioGoogleAnalyticsandGoogleDataStudioaregreatandfreetoolsfortrackingwhatishappeningonyourwebsite,gatheringdataandinsights,andpresentingthemtoyourcoworkers,yoursupervisor,oryourclient. HireDigitalEditorial11Nov2020How-tosHowtoRunABTestinginGoogleAdsandGoogleOptimizeWewillfocusonABtestinginsideGoogleAdsusinganativetoolcalledExperimentsandABtestingusingGoogleOptimizeoutsideGoogleAds. HireDigitalEditorial30Sep2020Join2,000+subscribersJointhousandsofothermarketersanddigitalprofessionalsandstayaheadof marketing,digitalandcontenttrends.EmailAddressSubscribe