Rich snippets: what are they and how to use them?

To achieve the highest possible Click-Through Rate (CTR), it is important that you stand out within the search results. The search results page is becoming increasingly crowded, but how do you stand out? Rich snippets offer the solution. We explain:

The difference between rich snippets and featured snippets

People often think that rich snippets are the same as featured snippets, let us be clear: this is not the case, at all. Rich snippets are shown together with your normal search result, like in the example below:

Featured snippets are answers to questions a user asks. Through the featured snippet, Google provides an answer without the user having to click through. A featured snippet result is always at the top of the page, at the so-called position 0. Featured snippets are also used for voice search, among other things. An example of a featured snippet is:

In summary, the differences are:

Benefits of rich snippets

A normal search result in Google consists of three parts:

An example of a normal search result is:

As you can see, this is straightforward. Rich snippets are normal search results with additions, like the search result below:

The added information to your normal search result makes your search result stand out more. The search result attracts the user’s attention and therefore increases your CTR. Rich snippets do not ensure a higher position in the search results [1].

Rich snippets also have a number of other advantages:

The different types of rich snippets

To choose the right rich snippets for your website, it is important to know about the possibilities. There are several types of rich snippets that you can use depending on the website you have.

Not all rich snippets are relevant for every website. You don’t need to show recipes on a website about business insurance. Therefore, it is important that you choose the right rich snippets. We will explain the most common rich snippets below.

Reviews

Review rich snippets show review stars in search results. It is possible to show an individual review in the rich snippet or a collection of all reviews. The review snippets show a rating in the form of a star rating with a maximum of 5 stars.

The review snippets are most often used with products (through product structured data), but are also used for books, films, recipes and local businesses.

Products

With product markup, you can show additional information about a product in the search results. It shows the rating, the number of reviews, the price and stock status. For composite products, where the price depends on the chosen option(s), it is possible to show a price range. In the example below, you can see that the price is €11,- and that the product is in stock.

Recipes

On different recipe websites, you sometimes see extra information about a recipe, such as an image, the amount of calories or the baking time. This is added with the recipe markup and makes the recipe clearer.

Events

If you organize events, the event rich snippet is a must-have. It shows important information, such as the location, date and name of the event. The events are clickable, so the visitor is forwarded to the right page right away.

Rich cards

Different types of content are eligible for the rich card snippets. When you publish articles, it is possible to add article structured data so that they are displayed at the top of the search results. This will make your article stand out, and you will get more clicks to your website. This is what it looks like in a search after the corona crisis:

Frequently asked questions

It is possible to set up your pages with a FAQ structured data markup, so that Google shows questions and answers in the search results. This way, you meet the needs, doubts or questions of your users, and you stand out more.

Breadcrumbs

To make the page URL in your search result look cleaner, use the breadcrumb structured data. Instead of a URL separated by dashes, a clean description of one or a few words that you have entered the markup is displayed.

Videos

Since search engines cannot read videos, the video markup helps them to understand them better. By adding markup to your videos, outside of YouTube SEO, they will be displayed in the search results:

Local businesses

As a local business, you have the opportunity to add information about your opening hours, location, prices and reviews with local rich snippets. The image below, from Google, shows this.

Organizations

As an organization, it is possible to help Google understand your company better. Think of contact information, a logo and your address. This information is used to better show your company in the search results.

Jobs

Although there is discussion whether vacancies also fall under rich snippets, the job opportunities of Google Jobs are also interesting when you have an open job position. By adding a markup to your vacancy pages, you ensure that your vacancy is displayed in the search results.

Both Microdata and RDFa are additions to the HTML layout of your page. JSON-LD is a piece of code you need to add to the page. JSON-LD and Microdata are the most widely used.

Adding rich snippets with JSON-LD

JSON-LD structured data is added to the source code of your website and is located between <script></script> tags. This JSON-LD structured data can be added to the <head>, <body> or <footer> of your website. An example of FAQ structured data in JSON-LD is:

<script type='application/ld+json'>
{
"@context":"https://schema.org",
"@type":"FAQPage",
"mainEntity":[{
"@type":"Question",
"name":"What is the question?",
"acceptedAnswer":{
"@type":"Answer",
"text":"This is the answer."
}
},{
"@type":"Question",
"name":"Can you ask another question?",
"acceptedAnswer":{
"@type":"Answer",
"text":"Of course!"
}
}]
}
</script>

Adding structured data using JSON-LD is generally the easiest and fastest way. You can add the JSON-LD code to the HTML code of your website or load it into Google Tag Manager.

Adding rich snippets with a Microdata markup

Adding rich snippets using a Microdata markup is done by adding pieces of information to lines of HTML code. Suppose you have a product page that says that the product scores an average of 4.7 out of 5, then you have to add several Microdata elements. The example below shows one of the required Microdata additions.

Adding Microdata markup is generally more time-consuming and less straightforward than adding JSON-LD. That is why Microdata markup is chosen less often.

Plugins and extensions for rich snippets

For the most common CMS systems, there are plugins or extensions available with which you can easily add structured data markup to display the rich snippets. We explain each frequently used CMS below.

WordPress

There are numerous SEO plugins for WordPress. The following plugins are the most commonly used for adding structured data:

Magento

Within the Magento marketplace, there are several extensions that add structured data:

Shopify

Although Shopify is a closed platform, unlike for example WordPress and Magento, it is possible to install apps that add structured data. There are several apps available for Shopify:

Lightspeed

The Lightspeed platform is very similar to Shopify. This is a closed platform which offers the possibility to install apps. Apps for rich snippets are:

Moreover, many Lightspeed themes also support rich snippets by default.

Official rich snippets documentation from Google

Google has drawn up official documentation for all types of structured data and rich snippets, containing guidelines and explanations for developers on how to implement them. This documentation is available in English. Each document shows examples and explains how to implement it (also for Google AMP pages).

Validating your structured data markup

After you have added the markup to your page, it is recommended to test whether your page qualifies for rich snippets. You can see if your page is eligible for the rich snippets with Google’s Rich Results Testing Tool. It is possible to enter a URL, where the markup is already implemented, or a piece of code to see if you have set it up correctly.

When you qualify for rich snippets, you will see the message “Page qualifies for rich results”. Your page may be eligible, but that the rich snippets are not shown. This is up to Google.

Monitoring the performance of your rich snippets

After you have added the rich snippets, it is recommended to monitor their performance in Google Search Console. In the Performance report, you can see the performance of your rich snippets:

In the left menu, under “Optimizations”, you can easily see which pages contain a valid markup and which pages contain errors or warnings:

Rich snippets: what is the conclusion?

We can conclude that rich snippets are an absolute addition for your search results and an important part of technical SEO. It is not difficult to add them, and it will generate more traffic to your website. Make sure you implement the possible rich snippets for your website to benefit from a higher CTR.

Sources

[1] https://twitter.com/JohnMu/status/980902538865205248