What is a Rich Snippet?
A snippet is the information about a web page which is displayed in the search results. A snippet usually consists of the title, the URL and the description. A Rich Snippet is a snippet with added information. A Rich Snippet may include a rating in stars; a product’s price and availability; details of forthcoming events or an image and preparation time for a recipe. It all depends on the type of rich snippet, of which more in a moment
Implementing Rich Snippets.
Rich Snippets are often overlooked when setting up web pages because they can take more time to implement than simple html. For certain categories of web page Rich Snippets can add content rich information to your Google search listings. It has been estimated that Rich snippets can increase your listings’ click-through rates by 30%. The click through rate is the number of times users click on your snippet to visit your website. To implement a Rich Snippet on an appropriate page it is necessary to use structured data to mark up the page to tell the search engines what is on the page.
Types of Rich Snippet.
Not all web pages can use Rich Snippets, to date these are the Rich Snippets recognised by Google:
Product Snippets
Product rich snippets include a picture of a product, ratings, availability and price range of the product.
Recipe Snippets
Recipe rich snippets provide users with additional information about a specific cooking recipe, such as the ratings (1 to 5 stars), cook/prep time, and calorie information.
Review Snippets
A review is someone’s evaluation of something. In addition to the text of the review, the mark up can include a review rating. A review rating is a summary of the review as expressed in the number of stars the same as the Recipe Snippet.
Event Snippets
There is also a snippet for organized events, such as musical concerts or art festivals, that people may attend at a particular time and place. Event snippets include the date, location, and time of the event.
Software Application Snippets
Information about software apps, including URL, review ratings, and prices.
Video Snippets
The Video snippet provides details such as the description, thumbnail URL, upload date and duration of your video.
News Article Snippets
A news article, which includes posts on a blog. The snippet includes headline, images, and publisher information. If you are fortunate Google may use your rich snippet mark up to power features like “In the news” and content carousels.
Local Business Snippets
The local business snippet includes the business name, address, and telephone. Also included are details such as opening hours and menu URLs.
