Do you know what rich snippets are? Google and Bing do and they really like them, which is why you should use rich snippets on your website.

Webmasters use this shared vocabulary to structure metadata on their websites and to help search engines understand the published content, a technique known as search engine optimization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema.org

Rich snippets are part of the schema.org vocabulary founded in 2011 by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex.

Rich snippets are not intended for the user to see. They are there to help search engines better understand the content on your page. Some examples of the rich snippet vocabulary are:

  • Product
  • Event
  • Recipe
  • Review
  • FAQ

Yelp uses rich snippets to tag star ratings, number of reviews and price range on their website. This lets Google understand what those elements are and allows them to display that data specifically in the search results. This data makes it easy for a searcher to understand quickly.

What is Microdata

Having this type of data labeled allows it to be displayed in the search results. This makes it easier for a searcher to understand and they are more likely to click on your result and visit your website.

Rich snippets make it more likely for searchers to click on your result

This is exactly why helping the search engines understand your site is to your advantage. It’s about about helping Google directly. It’s about helping Google is display your site better to searchers.

People don’t read websites (you’re the exception reading this), they scan them looking for what they want and where to click next. If you can provide information in an easy to read/scan format, more people will notice and take action.

No matter what you are selling or offering on your website, there’s a good chance there is a rich snippet vocabulary for it. As searchers get better at searching and more precise in their search terms, providing more precise data to the search engines will only help those people find you more often.

Zen Cart and WordPress and most other platforms all allow rich snippets in one way or another. If you are not using it, your competitors are. As the saying goes, if your standing still, someone is passing you by.

Contact Us to find out how to get rich snippets installed on your website.