what are they?
A rich snippet is a search result that gives you your typical title, URL, and meta description but with a little something extra. For example, if you were searching “how to make homemade pizza,” Google’s rich snippet may give you ratings of the recipe, how long it takes to make the recipe, and even a picture to go with it. You’ll probably be much more likely to choose this search result over one that simply gives you the basics.
why are they important in SEO?
As a marketer or SEO expert, your primary goals are to get your website in front of your customers and ensure they click on your site over competitors’. As we discussed, your customers will be more likely to click on the visually appealing and more informative search results as opposed to the standard ones. Having rich snippets for your website can increase your click-through rate and get your website in front of more customers. And that’s not all! As time goes on and more users click on your website, your Google ranking will increase. This is because you’re seeing increased traffic, which tells Google your website is relevant for the specific search.
how do you get them?
To get rich snippets to appear on Google, you’ll need to ensure your website includes structured data. To help you get started, you can utilize resources such as schema.org, which gives your team’s developer reference on what to include in your website’s code. Additionally, if your brand uses WordPress there are a selection of plugins to help you achieve structured data. After all, Google is a system, not a person, and needs all the help it can get to determine how helpful the information on your website is.
For example, the first image includes very straightforward and list-like details on prep time, cook time, and total time. While the second image tells the reader how long it will take to cook the pizzas, it is only given in sentence form and provides less information than the former. Formatting your website copy into easy-to-read structured data will help Google understand the content and get you that much closer to a rich snippet search result.
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Google Search Console is also a great tool to help with rich snippets. In their latest update, released in October 2021, they updated their Search Console Rich Results status reports to “make them more actionable and help you understand how to solve those issues.” Previously, Search Console had the Search Appearance report, giving users insights into rich snippet performance and assisting with technical implementation. With it, users could see the types of rich results their content has earned and receive data on how people interacted with those rich results. This is helpful information, as it helps improve content for those rich results. Before this update, Google Search Console already included an Enhancement Report, which collects all the insights and improvements that could lead to rich results. After reviewing your website, it flags issues that could affect your search performance.
Looking to organize your website into structured data but unsure of where to start? Our marketing team includes seasoned SEO professionals and developers who would be more than happy to assist! Drop us a line, email, or send us a DM on our social media accounts @clevermethod.