Rich Snippets

Google Rich Snippets- What Are They And How To Use Them?

The search results become visually appealing when we get some more information about it like some additional information displayed along with the title, and website. Rich snippets are the extra information that comes along with the basic information like reviews, and ratings. Well, it is not something new because rich snippets have been trending since 2009, and now they are an essential element of search engines. The search query with extra information in the search engine gains more visitors.

Why do snippets hold such immense importance?

When you search any query the results show the same three pieces of data.

URL, meta description, and title tag. Now rich snippets are an addition to these normal snippets having three pieces of data. Rich snippets consist of valuable information other than the usual data Furthermore, rich snippets are attention-grabbing which can lead to an increased click-through rate.  They are also referred as Structured Data Markup commonly used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They are remarkable, and the results produced from Google Rich Snippets can help you enhance your clicks via rates by displaying diverse key information.

Rich Snippets are displayed by Google although the information is drawn from websites with the help of structured data markup. This structured data markup can be used by site operators who add their co-existing HTML that in turn authorizes search engines to have a better understanding of the information that each web page comprises. Although, primary search engines have taken an initiative whereby they make use of this structured data markup to display more rich search results allowing users to find information or what they are searching for easily.
If Rich Snippets is implemented, Google will be able to display a lot of information regarding the real results for instance if the results fall under the following categories; –

  • A review.
  • A product.
  • A business.
  • A service.

The Type of Content Supported by Google Rich Snippets.

Some of the structured data markup specifications lately recognized by search engines include; –

  • Microdata.
  • Microformats.
  • RDFa.

     

Microdata is the most widely used when it comes to annotations precisely the schema. With a combination of Rich Snippets and Structured data markup, any type of website can be established. Here is a list of some of the most frequently used structured data markup content through Schema.org include;-

  • Local Business.
  • Restaurant.
  • Review and Aggregating Rating.
  • Events.
  • Creative work- Books, Movies, TV series, Music, and Recipe.
  • Person.
  • Place.
  • Organization.
  • Restaurant.
  • Product, Offer, and Aggregate.
  • Non-text objects-Videos, Audio, and portraits.

     

When you conduct any Google Search, you will realize those rich snippets go along with anything that is searched. Here is a brief discussion on some of the content types that can be used by Rich Snippets or Structured Data Markup.

Restaurant Information

With the help of structured data markup, a restaurant can showcase its business by detailing its menu into categories, pricing per meal, in-depth information on each item found on the menu, Business information such as; – address, working hours, and a phone number on how to reach them. All this information is normally displayed on a Search Engine Results Page.

Events

The use of Rich Snippets when it comes to events is only meant for the near future bound to happen events, not the previous ones. It should be noted that the property synopsis is not meant for an overview of the event but the event’s formal name. Other things do include; -ticket details, the beginning of the event and end of the event date, geolocation, and duration. With the help of rich snippets, a card can be displayed on a Search Engine Results page on the right-hand side showing results for an event like; – Masters Golf Tournament. Apart from this, Google offers its users many ways on how to customize rich snippets.

Reviews

Individuals and Aggregate Ratings are sustained with different types of properties that are further used respectively for each user.

People

Have you realized that Google and Bing make use of platforms such as LinkedIn by displaying rich information like for instance if you search for famous people? Related results are displayed on any website page including profiles of team members, other people, or staff relevant to an enterprise. Supported properties, for instance, do include; -official names, the title they hold, the time they play, professional affiliations, and finally their contact details.

Products

One of the most fundamental uses of both structured data markup and rich snippets are with the selling of products and issuing of special offers of specific online stores and merchants. The properties available for instance do include; –

  • Name.
  • Image.
  • Brand.
  • Description.
  • Identifiers.
  • Reviews.
  • Price.
  • The currency.
  • The seller.
  • The product’s condition.
  • The product’s quantity and quality.

Online sale places that offer the same product to the same audience will ensure that they either lower their prices or display higher prices on their web page results when searched by users to market their products by displaying different price ranges for each product.

Businesses and Enterprises.

Business information such as; the phone number, the director’s information, the company’s name addresses whether physical or URL, geolocation, logo, and “about” information generally is displayed on the knowledge graph with the help of Rich Snippet.

Recipes.

Carousel is a common feature that is used by structured data markup. It’s vital when it comes to sharing any recipe information. With key properties such as ratings, the dish types, reviews, prep time, cooking time to nutrition information for example; Serving of the dish size, calories, and fat content. With these operators hosting websites related to the preparation of dishes and recipes, collections can entice their users by feeding them with rich information each time they click on their web page.

Video Content.

This applies to immersed video content displayed on your website. Some of the property information that comes with this video content does include; –

  • Duration.
  • License.
  • Production company or the producer of the video.
  • Whether the video content is user friendly.
  • Music.

     

Google Rich Snippet makes reservations for structured data markup related to music albums and audios. This property information is made up of links to a sneak peek of a certain song, direct links to purchasing either an individual track or a full album.

Online Courses.

Online courses are at the peak of technology right now. If you want to promote yours, then the use of Google Rich Snippets is the way to go. This is because they have a lot to offer when it comes to the understanding of the course.

Books.

Are you a writer and do you have books published? You can either use Rich Snippets or structured data to display your book information from price range to its availability and synopsis or preview to your buyers.

Top Stories.

For example, you can make use of rich snippets or structured data for Google AMP to display either your blog or news content on a carousel known as “Top Stories” based on a given SERP.

Sitelink Information.

It features rich snippets displaying a lot more information on your website by adding relevant site links to your web page.

Under usual circumstances, when your website is displayed on Google, SERP, Bing, or any Search Engine, the meta description, URL, or site title you will have designated on the initial page will be displayed. If rich snippets are used, Google will be able to showcase a lot of information concerning the real results inclusive of the above-discussed content.

Here is how you can create rich snippets.

Before creating Google rich snippets, do the following things:

  • Details you want Google to show.
  • Use Google’s Structured Data Markup and define your website’s page
  • Using your selected data, create a microdata for your webpage
  • Check the new snippet.
  • Relax and be patient 

Details you want Google to show.

The topic on your web page will lord it over about the type of content you want Google to showcase. Let us suppose you are writing an article, or book review, or a product page. Identify what additional information you want Google  to show. 

In case of an article, You can add some tags, author name, meta description, along with the cover image.

In case of a product page, you can add that specific product’s ratings, availability, images and many more things. 

Use Google’s Structured Data Markup 

It is not easy to prepare the tags for your article or product page. You can create these with the help of handy tools like Structured data mark up helper. Because Google cannot take the hint from your HTML page so you have to convey the information to it. In structured markup, you need to choose the attribute describing your content and then enter the URL of that website. 

Microdata Creation 

All the major search engines recognize only a few mark up specifications such as microdata, microformats, RDfa. Microdata represents the content in short. Whatever your content is about, you can dictate Google in short about it by using a bit of code. You can use microdata by wrapping it in span or div tags. For example I am the marketing manager of xyz company.

Testing the snippet

It is time to test the snippet. You can use Google Webmaster tools for testing these and check if your markup data is readable by Google. 

Relax and have patience 

You need to relax, don’t panic or worry, if you don’t see your snippets on the website. Google takes some time to crawl and index the updated and new data. So, chill and be patient.

Does Google Rich Snippet help in Search Engine Optimization?

Rich snippets help in Search Engine Optimization although they do not rank signals. They are displayed by Google when your web page provides it with structured data that can be read by search engines and later on be displayed on a search engine result page. In as much as Google is provided with structured data, there won’t be an enhancement of rankings directly for instance backlinks and content. Rich snippets result in other signals that Google takes responsibility for such as; –

Organic Clicks via rates.

Google Rich Snippets present too much information for instance; pictures, star ratings, videos, and reviews just to mention a few of which you can enormously enhance CTR most specifically in SERPS that tend to have quite a few rich snippets. CTR enhances rate rankings through used behavior signals.

Reduces Bounce Rates.

Rich snippets help in providing a lot more info and context giving users who are researching a sneak peek of your website before clicking on the link instead of creating short meta descriptions. This leads to a reduction in bounce rates due to expectations being stated clearly. Bounce rates aren’t direct ranking signals but user behavior signals.

Rich Snippets are not direct ranking features but do help in Search Engine Optimization by controlling user behavior signals which Google takes into consideration.

How to install Google Rich Snippets to your website.

Some of the most common ways used are; –

  • Make use of Google’s structured data markup tool.
  • Hire a web development company to generate structured data markup.
  • Incorporate structured data markup manually to your co-existing HTML.
  • Make use of tools such as WordPress plugin and third-party service.

    You must understand a few vital concepts of what exactly you are creating, editing, and tagging. So that when you develop your final HTML code you will be able to have a clear picture of what the new components are and how to detect potential errors. The three main elements of schema.org data markup for Google Rich Snippets include; –

Itemscope.

This code is inserted directly into your structured data markup to convey the beginning and the ending of your structured data. 

 

The code is inserted here.

<\div>

 This alerts Google on where to find structured data markup so that it can be able to feature them in rich snippets.

It also identifies the HTML found in the structure concerning a specific item.

Item type

This code denotes exactly the type of item. It’s positioned instantly at the beginning of the itemscope code such as; –

 

Itemtype= “http://schema.org/book”>

The code is inserted here.

 

This states that your code is of a certain data structured markup.

Itemprop.

States specific property such as; URL, review, product, or name just to mention a few. itemprop code tends to give additional info to search engines based on the structured data you are searching for to present. For instance, movie information such as the director’s name. Creative contents such as; -Books, recipes, music, videos, TV shows, and photographs can be marked by HTML for example;

 

The above codes feature the three functions. Let’s build structured data and figure out how to use the above-mentioned codes in specific content. First and foremost, you have to set up Google’s Structured Markup Helper Data Tool and select the type of rich snippet you want to develop.

For instance, lets select Articles content, ensure to use a Higher Visibility Blog. Once you choose your type, you can decide to either create it from a live URL found on your website or a code from a particular page. If you are not quite familiar with structured data, ensure to stick to the URL option. In such a case, insert your current blog post as a URL. The tool will then load your page and give you options to choose from while you add the mandatory tags. It depends on your structure data content you choose in this case articles whereby you will be provided with a variety of options that you need to complete to reach full Google Rich Snippets.

Feature different components of your webpage and tag them with correct information, in this case, dates, publisher, URL, author, etc. Once the page has been tagged fully, ensure to add a rich snippet, click, and then create the HTML. Finally, replicate the structured data markup HTML against your co-existing HTML page found on your website.

Wrapping up

Structured data or Google Rich Snippets are the perfect ways of enhancing your Search Engine Optimization performance obliquely. When you talk about SEO, even a small change in the SEO techniques matters a lot and creates a big difference. Rich snippets can overnight boost the traffic of your website after Google crawls and indexes the content. You can expect Google to show the rich snippets after 10-14 days of crawling the content. After some five days, the rich snippets will disappear. Furthermore, these snippets can re-appear and it will be repeated. Google might reward you with semi-permanent snippets after 7-8 weeks , after doing repeated analysis. 

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