To significantly increase traffic to your website, it’s no longer enough to rank your site highly on search engine results pages (SERPs). Your listing must also be content rich and display information useful to internet users. Useful features such as strong headlines, metadata, Google ads, and knowledge graphs also help add to a listing’s quality.
Another way in which websites ensure the quality and visibility of their content is by using rich snippets. These features optimize web listings, making them stand out in the search results.
In this article, we examine this useful tool in detail, exploring the various types of rich snippets, how you can implement rich snippets in WordPress and Google, and why you should use them in your listing.
What are rich snippets?
Rich snippets are those attractive search results that you get on Google after performing a search. Website administrators add these structured data markups to their HTML to enable Google to understand more about the content on their site. Google now uses this markup to present richer search results, enabling internet search users to find the information they need quickly and easily.
Rich snippets provide an additional layer of information about the site and its web pages, in addition to the site title, URL, and meta-description. This additional info enables Google to display more information about the search result, helping internet users find answers to their questions quickly and easily.
Examples of rich snippets
There are various types of rich snippets that site admins can use to enhance their listings depending on the purpose and content of their business. The most common include the following:
Review Snippets
Review snippets show a description of a product or service with an accompanying star rating. They give users an idea of how others who’ve bought the product or service perceive it. This is the ideal snippet to use if you have a review blog.
Product Markup Snippets
Product markup snippets reveal valuable information about a product, such as price and past customer reviews. They give an idea about the quality of the product and are a must-have for e-commerce sites.
Recipe Snippets
Recipe snippets show essential information about a recipe, such as the ingredients, recommended cooking time, calories, and reviews. They are an essential snippet for food blogs.
Book Snippets
Book snippets offer more information about a book’s author, genre, publishing house, year of publication, and reviews.
Events Snippets
Event snippets give potential attendees more information about an event, such as the event date, time, and location.
Movie Snippets
Movie snippets highlight key information about a movie, such as the director, run time, star rating, release date, and box office revenue.
Music Snippets
Music snippets show more information about an album or single, such as the genre, format, artist, release date, and record label.
“How to” Snippets
These snippets expound on a process, making it easier for internet search users to understand how to make or do something. Google typically uses videos as an added feature in these snippets. “How to” rich snippets can only appear on mobile devices.
Organization Snippets
Organization snippets list key information about an organization, including its address, logo, location, and contact information.
Google Authorship Snippets
Google authorship rich snippets establish trust and personalize a listing. This snippet features the author’s name and picture as well as the author’s following.
Top Stories Snippets
These snippets apply to Google-approved news sites. They enable top or trending news stories to appear in the “Top Stories” box in SERPS.
The above list is by no means exhaustive, as Google keeps adding rich snippet types for the ever-increasing new formats.
How to implement rich snippets on google
Search engines like Google obtain the data that creates rich snippets from structured markup data in a web page’s HTML. This data gets formatted into a form that Google can understand and present in the search results.
Google Search supports structured data in three main formats:
- JSON-LD (highly recommended)
- RDFa
- Microdata
Most structured data types utilize Schema.org vocabulary, which comprises large sets of different schemas. As a web admin, you’ll have to pick the most appropriate schema for your site and content and then implement it.
There are several ways to implement rich snippets with Google. These include:
- Google Tag Manager
- Structured data markup helper
- The Data Highlighter Tool (you’ll need a verified Google Search Console property)
- WordPress plugins (described in detail below)
- Manually written code
1. Selecting the Most Relevant Rich Snippets for Your Web Page and Content
The first thing you should decide on is which Google rich snippets are relevant for your web page and content. Your snippet should offer valuable information on your site and build on the site title, URL, and meta-description already assigned.
Once you’ve zeroed in on the most relevant snippet for your content and website category, you can then implement it on Google.
2. Implementing the Structured Data (Rich Snippet)
To implement the structured data, you’ll need to use a schema markup generator. Remember to only add schema for content visible to internet search users on SERPs, and make sure that you adhere to Google’s guidelines.
3. Validating Your Markup
To ensure that your rich snippet is displaying correctly on SERPs, you’ll need to first validate your markup.
Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool is an excellent and simple way to check this out and confirm whether the applied code is eligible for rich results.
4. Monitoring Marked-up Web Pages for Errors and Performance
Keep checking your site or pages to ensure that the rich snippets perform as intended and remain free of errors. Validating your chosen markup is one way to do this, but it helps to keep an eye on applied markups to ensure that they work well over time.
Everything you need to carry out this process is in the Google Search Console, as Google picks up rich snippets by crawling through all marked-up pages. This Google Search Console also enables you to filter performance reports through rich results and view all the eligible markup types.
How to implement rich snippets in WordPress using plugins
We’ve explored how to implement rich snippets on Google. However, you can also get rich snippets in content management systems, such as WordPress, for various web pages on your site.
You can implement rich snippets in WordPress through a markup inside your WordPress site. WordPress supports several markup formats and languages, such as Microformats, Microdata, and RDFa.
Several WordPress plugins are also available for schema implementation. These include Yoast, Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP, and SEOPress.
To implement rich snippets on WordPress, you’ll need to:
- Install the WP plugin.
- Set up the schema on your home page.
To get the WP plugin:
- Go to the WordPress administrator’s menu and click on your chosen plugin.
- Enter the relevant details for your business, such as your website URL and your organization’s name, logo, contact details, and social media pages.
You can apply the schema on your home page only or go to “Settings” to select the option to apply it to additional web pages within your site. Implementation of the structured data mostly depends on the schema type and the plugin you are using. Study the plugin documentation and explore how it best fits your schema type and content before choosing a particular plugin.
How to implement rich snippets in WordPress manually
While many WordPress plugins allow you to add rich snippet markups almost automatically, you can also add these markups manually using predetermined code.
Below are some examples of schemas that can help you manually add rich snippets to individual web pages on a WordPress site:
Home Page Schema
Product Page Schema
Blog Post Schema
About Us Page Schema
Contact Us Page Schema
FAQ Page Schema
Why is it important to implement rich snippets?
According to Moz, many businesses have realized a 20-30% improvement in organic click-through rates because they used rich snippets in their listings. Rich snippets may not immediately improve your Google score as they are not an organic search ranking factor, but they help Google better understand your content.
The more structured data you define on your site, the better the chances of getting rich results and improving your search ranking in organic results.
Rich snippets offer:
- Better organic CTR (Click Through Rate): Internet users tend to click on rich snippet results.
- Content quality: Rich snippets help Google understand the purpose of your business and content on your site.
- Enhanced visibility: Snippets are eye-catching. They offer better real estate in SERPs, increasing the interest in your site.
WordPress plugins for creating rich snippets
Several WordPress plugins exist for creating rich snippets. Two of the most popular and easy-to-use plugins are Schema and WP SEO Structured Data Schema:
1. Schema
Incredibly easy to use, this WP plugin stands out as an excellent choice if you want to apply a schema markup across your website. To set up rich snippets on your site, first:
- Install the WP plugin.
- Set up the schema markup on your home page.
To do this, click on “Settings” under the Schema plugin icon and choose the following:
- General: Select your site type and site logo.
- Schemas: Define the pages you want the plugin to set up schemas for (e.g., About and Contact pages).
- Knowledge Graph: Define the information you want to appear to the right of your organic search results, such as business name, website URL, contact details, and social profiles.
- Advanced: Here, you can disable duplicate features and choose to delete all data once you no longer need the plugin. You can also set up the appropriate schemas for the various web pages on your site, such as product pages or blog posts.
2. WP SEO Structured Data Schema
The WP SEO Structured Data Schema plugin supports various schemas and is ideal for use on individual web pages or posts. To set up rich snippets using this plugin, you’ll need to:
- Install the plugin.
- Set up the schema on your home page.
To get the plugin, go to “WP SEO Schema” in the WP admin menu and enter essential information such as your business name, website URL, logo, contact details, and social media pages. You can then choose to apply the schema on your home page only or across your site in the “Settings” section.
Set up the schema on individual web pages or blog posts to implement your chosen rich snippet. Do this by following the steps below:
- Navigate to the desired page or blog post and click on “Edit.”
- Scroll to the “WP SEO Structured Data Schema” meta box and choose and fill in the most appropriate schema type for your content.
- Click on “Update” to apply the schema.
How to test rich snippets in WordPress
Search engines such as Google are not perfect. There are no guarantees that your rich snippets will display on SERPs correctly despite your implementing them properly).
So, how do you know that your rich snippets are showing correctly?
Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool can help. As a site admin, all you need to do is click on the fetch URL box in the Google tool to enter your markup URL or paste your markup in the toolbox. Next, click on the “Validate” button and let the tool review your markup.
This testing tool can also allow you to preview the results on certain schema types, such as business information and product types. Google offers more information on the different schema types available and the relevant implementation guides for each.
Everything You Need To Know
Frequently asked questions
Structured snippets are non-clickable extensions that showcase various aspects of a product or service. They increase ad performance by enticing people to click through, providing more information on the features and variety of the product or service being advertised.
The short answer is yes. Rich snippets enhance a website’s SEO. Rich snippets maximize the information on a product, service, event, or organization and entice internet search users to click on a web page. While these useful tools are not a ranking factor, they nevertheless establish trust and add a competitive layer to the search result.
However, rich snippets will likely become a significant component of Google’s search algorithm in the future as data and web pages become more complex. Implementing them now will benefit your site in the long term.
Rich results highlight essential information and enable search engines to understand a website’s purpose and content accurately. Examples of rich results include featured snippets, map snippets, ratings, reviews, Google Ads, and Google Videos.
Rich snippets and rich results are the same. However, rich snippets are just one rich result generated from structured data to give detailed information about a search result.
SERP features are any features not linked to the standard clickable blue listing. They include knowledge graphs, image carousels, PLAs, and local packs. Featured snippets, however, are a type of SERP feature that specifically boosts conversions and drives traffic to a site. FAQs, paragraphs, and tables are excellent examples of featured snippets.
The best rich snippet plugins for WordPress do not require coding, making the addition of complicated schema markups easy and effortless. Excellent examples of rich snippet plugins include Schema, SEOPress, WPSSO Core, and WP Review Pro.
The top free schema plugins for WordPress include WP SEO Structured Data Schema, WPSSO Schema JSON-LD Markup, Schema, and Structured Data for WP & AMP. While others aren’t free, they can help you rank your website without having to dig deep into your pocket.
