What Are Google Rich Snippets & Will They Affect SEO?

Google rich snippets are additional information that is displayed on search engine result pages alongside your standard google snippet, which typically includes a title tag, meta description, and page URL.

These extra data may include reviews, ratings, images, or any other details about a web page and its content that can be displayed on Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).

How do Rich Snippets Work?

When Google finds certain keywords in a page’s HTML code and markup language, it can then use them to identify important topics on that particular page. If those important topics have been given special formatting by using microdata or Schema.org markup languages, then they become eligible for rich snippets!

However, do keep in mind that even if you have your structured data markup set up and optimised perfectly, it does not guarantee a spot in the search results.

Types of Google Rich Snippets

The standard google snippet can already offer a decent overview of your web page, depending on what it entails. However, let’s say your page’s main purpose is to convert interested audiences into paying customers; then, having a product’s image, price, and availability right on the search engine page may give them the final boost into making that purchase.

That is why you must first determine the type of rich snippet that your website or specific web page can benefit from. There are various types of rich snippets out there, but the majority of them are specific to the type of website. A recipe rich snippet can’t possibly be applicable to a digital marketing website, right?

Let’s dive deeper into the common types of Google rich snippets.

Review

This snippet displays a star rating (out of 5 stars) under the description. It can be in the form of an individual or group review. An individual review will also display the name/alias of the reviewer, and the group review will include the total number of reviewers.

Recipe

The recipe snippet displays the image of the dish as well as cooking time, ratings, number of reviews, and even calories.

Product Markup

Highly recommended for eCommerce sites to implement this type of rich snippet; product markup data includes product images, prices, ratings, reviews, and availability.

Music

Displays information about a song or album, such as its release dates, album duration, genre type, and artists/producers involved.

Movie

The movie snippet functions similarly to the music snippet. Displaying data such as release dates, run time, genre, as well as ratings.

Events

This type highlights essential information such as time, date, and location for any events, be it concerts, music shows, conferences, etc.

For Google’s complete lists of the types of rich snippets that can be applied to your web pages, take a look here.

Are Google Rich Snippets Necessary?

While it’s not a must-have, rich snippets can tremendously help with your website’s engagement. As more information is being provided to users at-a-glance on the search result page itself, it makes it a whole lot faster for them to make informed decisions and click into your website.

Additionally, interested users will be more willing to stay on your site longer to further explore your content. With the implementation of Google rich snippets, your website can benefit from the increased click-through rates (CTRs) as well as engagement time and observe a reduction in bounce rates.

Do Google Rich Snippets Improve SEO Ranking?

Does Google Rich Snippets Make A Significant Difference in SEO Ranking?
Source:Freepik

Yes and no. We can say that indirectly they help improve SEO, despite not being a ranking factor. When your rich results appear in Google search results, your content is more visible to people who are searching for relevant information about that particular product or service. And when the users click on your result, then it will increase traffic to your website, which is always good for SEO.

Additionally, with good content appearing as a rich result, it entices users to click onto your page and read more detail about that particular product or service, which also helps improve the overall user experience and engagement rate.

In short, rich snippets by itself are not a ranking factor for SEO. However, it does help Google understand what your content is about and can help increase CTRs.

Getting Google Rich Snippets

As we know, rich snippets are information pulled from relevant structured data from your web pages. Structured data is made up of two main components; schema and its format (known as markup) and basically helps search engines understand your content. Our digital marketing experts have gone ahead and consolidated all there is to know about schema markup here.

Once you implement structured data on your web pages, major search engines are able to pull out key information and create rich snippets for you.

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