Why Should You Use Rich Snippets?
What are rich snippets?
If you use search engines, you’ll see rich snippets regularly. Rich snippets are search engine results that show additional information. There are many different types of rich snippets. Rich snippets show on a search engine result page (SERP) to answer a query as quickly and efficiently as possible.
You may have heard different terms for rich snippets, such as rich results. Rich results are essentially the same, except a snippet could be considered a rich result. Don’t panic! It’s not as complicated as it seems - we can use these terms interchangeably as they have the same definition.
Google’s rich snippets are most recognisable. These are features seen at the top of the results page. SERP features can include image carousels, lists, tables or graphs.
What makes a SERP feature a rich result is the addition of text information from the website page. A rich snippet is a rich result with enhanced features to help the result stand out, such as an image or star rating.
A rich snippet can also appear in Google’s Knowledge Panel on the right-hand side of Google’s result page.
What are the types of rich snippets?
The 7 most common rich snippets
1. Local Business
Local business rich results display your business details. The snippet is presented in a list format and can also result in your business appearing in Google’s Local Pack. The Local Pack is the Knowledge Panel that displays a business’ map location, business hours, contact information, website, images and rating reviews.
2. Recipes
Recipe snippets will preview your website’s recipe. By providing information such as cooking and preparation times, nutritional information and user ratings and reviews, Google can interpret your recipe page as a rich snippet. The additional information can be beneficial as it is likely to attract users to make the recipe and leave even more reviews.
3. Products
Product snippets summarise a product on the result’s page. The product snippet will provide detailed product information such as price, availability, review ratings and product image. This type of snippet will attract potential buyers to your product.
4. Reviews
Review snippets can be an excerpt of a review or a star rating. A range of online reviews about your business will determine the star rating.
A review excerpt can be a summary of what your company provides. This rich snippet is helpful to attract potential customers. Nowadays, online reviews are highly trusted.
5. Top Stories
Top stories rich snippets display as a carousel of news articles. Blogs or news sites that post articles on current events are shown in this snippet. The top stories snippet presents articles relating to the searched keyword or query.
6. Jobs
The jobs rich snippet will give an interactive table of job listings. The listing will feature information about the job you have posted, as well as your business’ branding. The snippet will feature information such as job title and description, location and employee reviews and ratings.
Users can filter by various categories within the table. The interactivity of this snippet attracts potential employees because it is easy to view and use.
7. Video
Video rich snippets prioritise a collection of videos most related to the searched query. This snippet is shown at the top of Google’s results page. It will be in a carousel on a desktop and a list on mobile. The videos featured in the video snippet stand out and usually have a high click-through rate (CTR).
It is also possible to utilise the ‘key moments’ feature in video snippets. If there is part of your video that answers a common query, Google can recommend this portion of the video.
How do I get rich snippets?
When the information on your website is featured in a rich snippet, it is often referred to as ‘winning’ a rich snippet.
Now you’re probably asking: ‘But how do I win rich snippets?’
The answer is, with one of our favourite terms here at Firebelly Media - SEO!
Optimising your website gives the highest chances of winning rich snippets. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a website improvement process. SEO can help increase traffic due to your website being more likely to show on SERPs.
SEO can help win rich snippets!
The information shown in a rich snippet is selected because it best answers a search query. Therefore, you should also optimise the content of your web page!
Google’s algorithm will crawl your website and interpret the data it finds. This is how rich snippets are selected. Ensure Google can read your website easily.
Follow our steps to optimise the text on your website:
1. Keywords! Create a list of keywords that are relevant to your business. Use these keywords in the body of your text, but don’t oversaturate them!
2. Think of a question you want to answer that relates to your business. Think about what questions your customers ask regularly. If there’s something you believe customers need to know about, form it into a question. Ask questions in the format of What is-, How do I- or Why-.
3. Put your questions in h2 headings. If your page title is in the form of a question, your first h2 question could even reiterate your title.
4. Answer that question in a 40-50 word paragraph answer. This length is ideal for the text featured in rich snippets. Make sure your keywords are utilised in your answer.
A SERP featured snippet will prioritise short paragraph answers, a numbered or bulleted list, a table or a video. You should try to include all of these throughout your website.
You can optimise for a specific rich snippet type. Simply choose one that is best suited for your content.
The next step becomes slightly more complicated, but it’s nothing to fear! It’s time to add structured data code to your website.
Schema markup is the ideal structured data code because it is best suited for all search engines. Here at Firebelly Media, we use MERKLE’s technical SEO Schema Generator. The generator allows you to set up the optimal Schema needed for a specific web page. The Schema Markup type you choose should be the same as the rich snippet type you want to win.
It is a good idea to test your Schema Markup using Google’s Rich Results Test tool. Testing your code will ensure your website can support rich result.
Structured data is implemented using JSON-LD. Simply put, JSON-LD is a Javascript code added to the <head> section of a web page’s HTML. Simply copy your schema markup code into JSON-LD on your web page, and it will be optimised!
When optimising your website, it is best to optimise your best-performing pages first. These are the pages that are doing well organically. Therefore, the information already on the page should perform well as a rich snippet.
It is vital to keep your web page’s information AND Schema Markup up to date. Your content will remain current and be more relevant to potential customers.
What are the benefits of rich snippets?
Higher CTR
Higher traffic
Potential for more business
Your business information is shared quickly and easily
The interactivity of rich snippets means users can access information related to their search query with ease. They are eye-catching and provide specific details. Rich snippets are more likely to be clicked on. This increase in CTR can result in potential new customers.
And that is Rich Snippets!
Structured data enables enhanced SERP features called rich snippets. Winning rich snippets can be highly beneficial for your business. Rich snippets generate higher CTR, which could lead to more increased traffic and new customers. However, there is no guarantee your content will be chosen as a rich result even if you implement our SEO advice.
But don’t be disheartened! Optimising your website will still be advantageous; your website will be clearer to search engines and more likely to rank higher on the results page.
I really hope you’ve gained something by reading this blog!
Mary-Anne
p.s if you would like to check out all the marketing tips that I’ve been sharing on TikTok, you can view ALL of my videos here.
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