The benefits of rich snippets are not as well known as they should be and it is a shame because they have such incredible potential. Learn how to use them to help you grab your audience’s attention and get the most out of your organic search results.
It is the official beginning of your business relationship with your potential new clients, followers, subscribers and fans in the online world.
Without a click, there is no relationship, and users will have already moved on to the next alternative on the list.
To get that all-important click, you have to stand out from the crowd.
The latest estimates suggest that Google handles at least 63,000 queries per second , or 3.8 million per minute, or 5.5 trillion per day … and each one returns thousands of results.
The numbers are truly mind-boggling.
To overcome all of this, you need an optimized title and meta description and target the correct keywords, to rank as close to the top spot as possible.
But also, you need more and more, “featured snippets” or rich snippets.
Table of Contents
What are snippets?
Let’s review the history a bit.
At first, a typical SERP would display results that included a title, a URL link, and a short description.
Things have changed a lot. Now, we see paid ads, Google suggestions like “other user questions” and snippets.
In rich snippets, the direct answer that appears at the top of the results, they are a little different.
Google creates them by directly accessing the content of the page , and that does not make them less valuable.
So snippets are search results that go beyond the basics.
By adding structured data code to your site’s HTML, you provide search engines with more information to better understand the content and intent of each page.
Search engines may present these additional details as featured snippets that appear under the URL in their results list.
Snippets can include additional information about your hours of operation, contact details, comments, prices, location, star ratings, and product availability, among others.
Snippets often appear for inquiries about specific people, businesses, products, reviews, recipes, events, music, and videos. In this sense, it can be an interesting tool for your local SEO strategy .
Now, it is also important that you know something. Search engines are under no obligation to use it after you activate them, there are no guarantees on this.
Take advantage of Google Rich Snippets to increase your CTR
One of the most revealing studies noted that sites that use rich snippets ranked on average four positions higher than those that did not .
Most recently, Raven Tools crawled 200 million pages and found that only 20% of them use the schema.org microdata.
Add them to your site and you will be enjoying a unique advantage over your competition.
What specifically is that “edge”? Do snippets produce better search rankings?
There is no clear answer, at least for the moment.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. What we can tell you is that they can improve your SEO efforts, your ranking and therefore your CTR percentages.
At worst, it may have no impact on your rank. At best, it can indirectly influence your CTR.
But there are other more concrete benefits of including it in your strategy.
Rich snippets improve your position in search engines.
And this is because rich snippets allow major search engines to get more meaningful results.
You have indicated exactly what your page is about and have provided the most important details by casting a virtual spotlight on them.
Engines don’t have to interpret what’s going on, so there’s less confusion, less misinterpretation, and better overall results . In this way you will be making the engines work less, and they will feel truly “happy”.
Beyond that, users can immediately see if your site, business or content contains the answer to their question or need.
The more information you put in the results list, the more likely you are to get that crucial click , remember, it’s all about getting that click from the people who need what you have to offer. So less wasted time for everyone.
Including a price range, stars, availability, or anything else relevant, makes your ad stand out from the rest. If they all have just the standard URL-title description, there is still no real difference.
But if yours is the only result with a 4.3 star rating, it grabs the reader’s attention . And at this stage, it’s about getting more attention than the result above and below you.
If a result has a 4.5 star rating and the next is 2.7, who will get that click?
If a site includes a price of 355 euros for Product X in its rich snippet and another result has a price of 425 euros in yours, which will be the first to be investigated by potential buyers?
Rich snippets can put the foot of potential customers at the door of your business , more precisely the foot in the virtual door. To attract them it is important that you first know your market niche.
You have to back it up with great products and customer service, of course, but at the SERP stage of the journey, it’s all about the first impression – getting the click.
And as for your SEO, let’s get back to it for a second.
Some brands may see their highest CTRs and lowest bounce rates due to the greater relevance that rich snippets bring to their results. And those two metrics can and often do affect your SEO efforts and your page ranking.
Neither is a direct ranking factor, but they do send a clear message to search engines about the relevance, ease of use, and popularity of a page to users.
If your page is the number six result, but you frequently get more clicks than the pages that appear in the top five because it has a star rating and a high price range, while the others have nothing, then Google will take notice .
Now, we suggest you see how you can implement rich snippets according to the type of business you do.
Rich Snippets applications according to your product or service
If you have an e-commerce, you can use rich snippets to highlight prices, product availability or limited-time offers, or set a star rating.
Businesses and organizations with a physical location can mark important details such as their address, hours of operation, telephone number, and the corresponding web address.
Both digital and physical companies can highlight staff bios and name their employees.
Rich snippets can benefit you whether you are a simple blogger, a creative, or an e-commerce.
We are going to see each one of them.
Rich snippets in e-commerce
In the world of e-commerce, you can use several different types to draw attention to your products, services, and business in general.
Comments matter, people turn to them when they make a purchase decision, so if you can include them right there in the SERP, and you are already one step ahead of your competitors .
We all love the star rating system, because with a quick glance you can see the ratings of a product or service. The aggregate rating provides an average rating based on multiple reviews , displaying a simple star rating below the title and URL.
If you are selling products, you can increase revenue, including pricing, availability, reviews, and more. Give them all the information they need, even before they have to click, and don’t worry, because the click will happen, if you give them that information.
If you regularly host or sponsor special events , this is important because it allows you to show crucial details about where, when, and even how to get tickets.
Finally, no rich snippet strategy would be complete without including your physical location . And here we find different types of businesses, from restaurants, retail stores, doctor or dentist offices, lawyers, tapas bars, dry cleaners to sex shops.
Include your address, phone number, hours, price range, payment options, geographic coordinates, comments, and more. And collect clicks.
Rich snippets for creatives or artists
If you’re a creative, rich snippets can also help your business improve.
As an author, you can share the details that matter like book format, ISBN, author bio, topic, intended audience, comments, and ratings, to name just a few.
Maybe you are a journalist, a blogger, or a freelancer. Spread the word about your new work , highlighting the topic, number of words, audience, awards, format, etc.
The Internet is full of excellent and not so good recipes. If you are a chef, or food vendor or restaurant owner, you can share your best stuff with the popular recipe rich snippets . Prep time, pictures, ingredients, nutritional information, rating, and more will appear there.
Where can I check for problems with my rich snippets?
You can check it in Google Search Console . There you will be able to observe everything from the errors to the amount of items that have been collected by the trackers.
There are dozens of types of rich snippets to leverage and use to deliver more details that highlight, promote, and emphasize what matters most to your customers. Of course, there is no guarantee that you will move up seven spots, or increase revenue by 223%.
But they make you more visible and separate you from the vast majority who still don’t use them, and this is one of the keys to snippets.
It can work to improve your CTR and bounce rate, which can give you a good SEO image .
In the competitive world of SEO, you need to do something extraordinary to help your business get more clicks, even if you’re not in the top three positions on search engines for your target keywords.
Implementing rich snippets on your site pages should help you capture the attention of your audience so that you can make the most of your position in organic search.
Rich snippets have been around for a while, but their benefits are still not as well known. They have virtually no drawbacks, but what they do have is incredible potential.
Use them. Implement them. Take advantage of them. Don’t be left behind.
But never, never lose sight of the user , everything begins and ends there. That is, do not neglect the quality of what you offer, or your positioning strategy.
When you do keyword research, you have to know your main reason. The essence is not to stuff your titles and meta descriptions with keywords.
You should always understand the user’s search intent and optimize your content for a great user experience.
conclusion
Snippets are not a shortcut . Your content must always be excellent, or your organic clicks and visitors will withdraw the moment they arrive.
Think that at the end of the day you get a positive first impression, when a user does a search and it is your page that first catches their attention , there you already have a lot of cattle, as long as behind it there is quality content or the person really find what you are looking for.
The more people access your website, the more likely you are to get more clicks and in the long run more sales or customers.
But as we have told you, snippets cannot be the fundamental pillar of your business, they are simply one more element of your SEO strategy . It is a bit like the virtual showcase that users will see before deciding whether to access your website.
Have you ever tried using rich snippets?
What was the biggest obstacle for you?
What positive or negative aspects have you experienced with them?
