Do you know about Google rich snippets?
If you’re associated with digital marketing or SEO world then you’re likely to have heard Google snippets or Rich snippets. But there is also a chance that you scratch your head at it. Why? because Google snippet is a term which is not easy to understand. That’s why through this article I will explain to you what is snippet or rich snippet, its importance, types of snippets, and creation of rich snippets.
What are Google snippets?
As Google makes it very clear “snippets apply solely to the description of something” that you search on Google. Basically, a snippet is a result that Google shows to the users in the search results. For example, when you search something on Google then it shows you the main title in blue, the URL in green, and the description of what the page is about. This is what you call snippets.
In the case of Rich Snippets, the Rich snippet was launched by Google in 2009. Google is now able to display a bit more information about the actual result. A rich snippet shows extra information between the URL and the description. For example, you can see the rating stars, votes, etc about any person, product, business or institute and many more.
Now let’s talk about the importance of snippets.
Some importance of snippets
– Extra visibility
When a user makes a search, his eyes try to find the content which has the most valuable or most detailed information. And this can only happen by the use of Google snippets that add extra visibility to your web page.
– Increase search ranking
With the help of snippets, you’ll see more people are coming to your site. The types of users you get on your site will be more relevant for your brand.
– Greater attention
Google snippets or other search engines with additional information ensure that the search results are given more attention by users. It increases the value of your site.
– Greater relevance
As rich snippets display additional information, it also shows you the alternative options of your results. For example, if you search for sticky rolls (related to foodstuff) then a site will identify ‘recipe’ in the code, that will be more relevant to you.
– Higher click rate
Snippets helps in getting higher click rates. As it provides the additional information which becomes an important positive user signal and an important ranking factor.
How many types of snippets are there?
Snippets can give various types of information to visitors. Hence, Snippets can be used on the following different types given below :
1. Featured snippets
These snippets come in all shapes, sizes, and format. This snippet provides a direct answer to the users without clicking on the specific search result. Featured snippets include:
Text snippets give you information through texts or words.
video snippets show the video on the very first page of the search results.
list and table snippets provide the content with the list or show the picture.
2. Rich snippets
These snippets give additional information about the content. These includes
- Article snippets
It includes the headlines of the article, publisher, and the time of the article published.
- Event snippets
These snippets give the information about the event, its location, time and the date it starts.
- Job posting snippets
This snippets list the name of the job title, location and the site offering the job.
- Product snippets
These snippets show the information about the various products and their rating in the market.
- Recipe snippets
This includes star rating, cook time and calories.
Besides snippets, you can also create rich snippets. These rich snippets give users detailed information with specific queries and help users recognize whether your site is relevant to the search or not.
How to create rich snippets?
– Using microdata (structured data)
It is the set of specific tag that helps provide additional information about the whole website. After implementing structured data you can show phone number, product rating, working hours, author’s name, etc.
– Schema.org Glossary
It is an open specific language understood by Google, Bing, Yahoo. It includes different types of markup for different types of content (article, video, audio). It shows the search engine what kind of data being featured on the current page.
– Open Graph protocol
With the help of open graph protocol, you can control your website’s social media snippets focusing on particular element.
– Schema implementation
You can use free word press plugin ‘ All in one schema rich snippets’. For this first, you need to open your website’s console then install and activate ‘All in one schema rich snippets’, then open default editor page and click on to ‘configure rich snippets’, now select the relevant markup and fill up the details.
– Open graph implementation
To create this markup you need to perform the following action;
– Open your website console.
– Install and activate the YOAST plugin.
– Now launch default editor page and scroll down to ‘ YOAST SEO’. open ‘social’ tab.
– Time to set title (between 60-90 words)
– Write a short version of the existing description in 200 words.
– Now upload a thumbnail image for your snippets. Keep the image size smaller (5MBs)
In order to create a good and informative snippet for your website, you need to implement schema.org and open graph-structured data. As they allow you to create rich snippets and show more useful information.
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