Search engine optimisation is a fast-moving discipline and it isn’t always easy to keep pace with emerging tactics, technologies and evolving best practices. One of the most significant new developments is the increasing importance of rich snippets, which is something that you simply can’t afford to overlook if securing maximum visibility in search is a major goal of your digital strategy.
What Are Rich Snippets?
In the early days of SEO, search results contained titles, descriptions, URLs and very little else. Although this worked for a while, as Google started to face increased competition, it realised that it needed to respond to the ever-changing needs of its users. Now, search engine results pages (SERPs) are populated with a whole variety of different types of information, including sponsored results, still images, video content, reviews and knowledge graphs.
SERPs also contain suggestions for related search queries if users haven’t managed to find what they’re looking for on the first page of the results they were presented with.
Essentially, rich snippets offer searchers instantly accessible information that goes beyond a simple meta description. This information can instantly instil a certain level of confidence a searcher has in a given result, which can be the factor that ultimately prompts them to click through and engage with the rest of the content on that particular page. And if you’re wondering whether rich snippets are taking traffic away from pages that rank highly in organic search results, the answer is yes, a lot.
Why Do I Need to Know About Rich Snippets?
Rich snippets are now an integral aspect of any comprehensive SEO strategy. In fact, if you fail to pay an appropriate level of attention to rich snippets, you’re probably going to miss out on a significant volume of traffic which will almost certainly negatively impact your sales and conversions.
The most important thing you need to know about rich snippets is that if you successfully manage to have your site displayed in one, you will likely see a marked boost to your click-through rate (CTR), and benefit from the advantages of securing high volumes of organic traffic to your site.
This is why working with an SEO agency worth their salt with a proven track record in not only pushing up rankings but boosting CTR, can really mean the difference between ranking well and getting average traffic and ranking well and getting a ton of traffic. And ultimately the more traffic you get, the higher up the SERPs you go.
And if you’re wondering how, it’s simply a case of visibility. Don’t forget, searchers want answers to their queries instantly and they certainly don’t want to put in any more effort than is absolutely necessary. So, if your search result contains more immediately accessible information that is relevant to the intent behind their search, they are going to be more inclined to click through to your site rather than one of your closest competitors. SERPs are competitive spaces and any opportunity you have to present your brand as the authority in your niche is, frankly, priceless.
Various pieces of research have been conducted into the true value of appearing in a rich snippet. One study found that a website experienced more than a 500% increase in sessions, a more than 600% increase in organic visitors, and an 8% CTR.
Are There Different Types of Rich Snippets?
As Google wants to ensure that its users find it easy to locate the information they are looking for, it has created a variety of rich snippets to serve different purposes.
Featured snippets, for example, are also frequently called answer boxes and occupy a highly visible position in SERPs because they are designed to instantly answer a searcher’s question. This type of rich snippet is often presented as a core reason for the increase of so-called ‘zero-click searches’ [4] which Google launched as an experiment in early 2020 to remove results from SERPs that don’t satisfy user intent and therefore don’t need to appear.
Other types of rich snippets include:
- Structured snippets: ad extensions that permit advertisers to promote products/services
- Knowledge graph: features information from several sources, often displayed in SERPs for brands and high-profile people
- Local packs: highlight local results, which is imperative for businesses with a physical presence
What Difference Will Rich Snippets Make to my Business?
As rich snippets are more appealing than standard search result listings, searchers will be immediately drawn to the additional information your site can provide. This gives you an extended opportunity to showcase your credentials and demonstrate that your site contains the information they are looking for. If you manage to do this successfully, you will also benefit from:
Rich snippets that are interesting and informative can persuade more searchers to click through to engage with your content further. What’s more, if your on-page content meets the expectations of searchers, they are more likely to explore other pages on your site. This will reduce your bounce rate and tell Google that your site contains relevant and valuable content that searchers enjoy.
A Quick Note about Schema Markup
If we have successfully convinced you that rich snippets are something that deserve your attention, you’re going to need to know about schema markup. Schema can be used to give additional context to HTML code that helps search engines to understand the precise contents of a webpage. Without these important pieces of information, Google simply won’t be able to display anything but your URL, title and meta description in SERPs. As we have seen, this can have an enormously damaging impact on your ability to perform well in SERPs.
Schema coding is undeniably complex but as this type of structured data can drive a host of additional benefits to your search strategy, the pros far outweigh any cons here. Additionally, by incorporating this element in your digital strategy, you will also likely be putting yourself ahead of your competition because more than 99% of websites are yet to exploit this hugely valuable tactic.
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