Rich snippets: what are they and what are they for?
Would you like to know how to use rich snippets on your website? Are you looking for how to implement rich snippets in your site or blog (whether you are a webmaster or blogger), but you don't know how to set them up?
Well, in this article we are going to talk about what are rich snippets, how these rich snippets affect SEO, how to test them using the tool Rich snippets Google Tool and, finally, how all of them are applicable to any content management system you are using:
- Rich Snippets for WordPress.
- Rich Snippets for Prestashop.
- Rich Snippets in html.
Sure that you noticed that, on the page of Google search results, some results are larger, offer more information, show star ratings, etc, In summary, are the most eye-catching and attractive. The reason for that stand out over the others are the rich snippets or rich snippets.
What are rich snippets?
Rich snippet is the name given to the dial structured data that is added to the html of a website to enrich the search results (especially the results of search by voice). In other words, they are pieces of code that are added to the web site to provide more information to the search engines, and above all to give structured so that they can easily understand what is exactly every element of the web. Google then will be able to provide relevant information to users to easily find the result that best fits what they are looking for.
For example, if you have a recipe you can indicate to Google which part of the text corresponds to the ingredients, which refers to the preparation time and what are the steps to follow. In this way, the information is structured and Google will display on the results page.
In the following result shows the preparation time, the calories and the image of the finished dish.
What are rich snippets?
The rich snippets allow you to stand out from your competitors, so they are an ideal tool to encourage click-throughs to your website and increase the CTR. It speaks of an increase in CTR of approximately 20%, depending on the type of rich snippet.
Yes, we must take into account that the rich snippets are elements that help to improve the visibility, if we have not yet optimized accessibility and crawling our website to the search engines, it is not yet the time to work the rich snippets.
Types of Rich snippets
Practically, we can make all items from our website, however, not all of them displayed a remarkable result in the SERPS (search engine results page). Yes, the number of possibilities for highlighting our website in the results is constantly growing.
Here are 8 examples of Rich snippets, although you will be able to find more in the page of information for developers Google.
- Rich snippet product: possibly the most well-known and all e-commerce should have. Should be included on web pages with a single product and offers information on price, availability, offers, user reviews, etc
- Rich snippet of article: Allow your article to appear in a listing of the stories featured or on the carrousel.
Carrousel
Listing
- Rich snippet navigation path: This marked focuses on the breadcrumb or breadcrumb trail from the home to the site until the page in which you are located (for example, the product). When you are rich snippet is implemented, Google shows the names of each section of a clean, instead of doing it in URL format. In the following example, we see that the sections are listed without hyphens, accents, caps, etc
- Search box: displays a search engine to search of brand in a way that, from Google, we can do internal searches within a site.
- Business contact: allows you to highlight the contact information of the company, both in the side panel as in searches for the brand name. For example, if we look for the phone Elabs will come out directly in the search results and it will not be necessary to enter in the web to call.
- Rich snippet of the event: allows you to highlight events of all kinds, from large concerts to small events of district. It is very important that it is used only for events, you should never include offers or discounts, as they may be subject to a penalty.
- Rich snippets Faq: stands out the faq in the search results. Should not be included in a forum or on a page of questions and answers user.
How to implement rich snippets?
The structured data are based on schema.orgalthough the definitive source must be provided by Google, since most of the markings that appear on schema.org do not offer outstanding results in Google and, in addition, the Google documentation indicates what items are required and which are recommended.
There are three formats supported by Google to implement the rich snippet in the search:
Google recommends that you use whenever possible JSON-LD. To verify that everything is correct, we have the Rich snippet tester Google or, Search Console to “Inspect URL”.
Possible penalties for misuse of the rich snippets
The rich snippet can be very useful to gain visibility, but if we use it wrong can be a cause of a penalty. What should we take into account to avoid penalties?
In reality it is very simple: we must use the rich snippets if and only if we have a content that fits in with any of them and that is visible to the user.
Points that we should keep in mind:
- Do not include content which is not visible: if we have a product with ratings, the ratings marked on the rich snippets should be the same as shown in the HTML.
- Don't fool yourself: do not include in the rich snippets elements that do not exist, for example, opinions or valuations false.
- Don't show any illegal contents: for example, identity theft, drugs, etc
Here you will find common mistakes in the implementation of the rich snippets.
It may happen that our content is not misleading, we have checked the web in the rich snippet tester and everything is correct, but in the search results still appear in our content highlights. Why? Because Google doesn't always show what structured data is, even if they are correctly implemented. The search engine is based on the relevant criteria and can be considered not relevant to show the rich snippet for certain searches.
The rich snippets have more complexity than meets the eye. In this article, we wanted to make an initial approach for you to discover its main features and how interesting it can be to your business. If you are in doubt, or if you have arisen some new ones, don't hesitate to comment.
