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What are Rich Snippets? All You Need to Know

Dan Walton

Rich snippets are important SEO tools that marketers should know about.

Rich snippets provide essential additional details about your web pages in search engine results pages (SERPs) that make such a difference in how searchers understand what your website is all about.

If you think about it, people make instinctive decisions in a matter of seconds. Rich snippets, in basic terms, give people more top-level details about the particular thing they are searching for. These snippets can take many forms, depending on what people are searching for. However, if implemented correctly, they give searchers a more dynamic, useful experience on the SERP, before they even click through to your page.

By using structured data markup, you can add snippets that include extra details, images, ratings, and more. Implementing rich snippets can help increase click-through rates while providing a better user experience, something which, in this competitive SEO landscape, is pretty valuable. Here’s what you need to know about how to utilise them effectively.

What Are Structured Data and Schema Markup?

Before diving into rich snippets specifically, it helps to understand structured data and schema markup.

Structured data provides a standardised way of organising information on a webpage using a schema. Schema describes what kind of data is being marked up and how it relates to other data on the page. Schema markup embeds this structured data within the HTML code of a webpage.

Some common types of schema markup include:

  • Reviews
  • Events
  • People
  • Products
  • Recipes
  • FAQs

By adding schema, you provide additional context and meaning around the info on your pages in a format that search engines can easily understand.

Types of Rich Snippets

There are a variety of rich snippet formats you can add with the relevant schema markup type that you are using for your site.

Some of the most common rich snippet types include:

Star Ratings

Star ratings can showcase your brand’s reputation and reinforce to prospects that you’re a trusted company. When reviews from credible sources – such as TrustPilot or TripAdvisor – are marked up properly, star ratings may be displayed in SERPs, underneath the Page Title. They give users insight into customer satisfaction before they even click on your listing. They can be an excellent asset to have if you have built a solid reputation in your local area or pride yourself on service quality.

review-snippet

Product Specs

Product schema can highlight key details like price, brand, availability and more, such as whether your product is currently in stock on your site. Having this info visible up front helps users determine if your product meets their needs faster. Product snippets are great for eCommerce sites with integrated software that keeps track of inventory with website listings. If aligned correctly, you’re creating a positive experience for the customer.

product-snippet

Recipes

Recipe-focused rich snippets can involve displaying key ingredients, cook time, calorie count, and instructions for customers to peruse briefly before clicking through and reading the full recipe. These types of snippets cater perfectly to food bloggers and sites sharing recipes.

recipe-snippet

How-To Lists

How-to markup lets you display numbered instruction lists directly in SERPs. This helps DIY, tutorial, and educational sites by providing the steps users need without requiring a click.

Article Rich Snippets

Article schema can take your news stories and blog content further by including a summary, featured image, and author info. This gives users a preview of your content to see whether they want to click through.

Benefits of Rich Snippets

Implementing rich snippets provides a range of potential benefits to dynamic sites that offer a good user experience:

  • Increased CTR – including additional details, images, ratings, and more can boost click-through rates from SERPs by catching users’ attention.
  • Improved UX – users get key information faster without needing to visit your site. This makes it easier for them to find what they want.
  • More organic traffic – higher CTR means more visits driven to your site from organic search. Rich snippets help you earn more traffic without extra effort.
  • Higher rankings – rich snippets enhance the user experience, which search engines value and reward greatly. Relevant, well-structured markup may improve your SERP positions.
  • Brand building – snippets allow you to get your brand name, logo, images, and more in front of users, thus expanding your visibility and awareness.

Check how your snippets are performing and refine them as necessary for maximum benefit.

Maximise Your SEO with Rich Snippets

Adding rich snippets is a smart SEO tactic that also enhances the user experience. With structured data markup, your most important page elements can be displayed prominently in the SERPs.

At Artemis, we have helped clients across many sectors scale and grow their businesses through a range of bespoke SEO and digital marketing services. While rich snippets and schema only make up a small portion of the type of technical and content-focused SEO tasks we can fulfil, we know that they can be challenging to implement if you don’t have a development background. Get in touch today to see how we can help you get your pages seen more dynamically in SERPs.