We hear a lot about it, but not all know how rich snippets work and why it’s worthwhile enriching your search result by this element. First, after entering your query in Google search engine, we receive plenty of URL addresses, which lead us to the website with the most detailed description of an issue. There are so many of these addresses that we usually focus on the few top ones in the search result. However, if we notice that there are some additional elements next to a result, making it unique, we are more likely to click it.

Rich snippets — characteristics

Rich snippets are structural data or tags aimed at providing more information about our query and increasing the click-through rate of a given address. These data also constitute a significant facilitation for the browser itself, as they allow it to learn, among others, about ratings given to a product or their number and price. They are particularly often used by on-line stores, by adding e.g. stars symbolising the rating, prices, or photographs. Interestingly, since recently, rich snippets have also been appearing in Google Images.

Structural data are included in a website through special formats. These are:

·         Microdata

·         Microformats

·         RDF

·         JSON – LD

In terms of information contained in structural data, apart from those listed above, we can also learn about the stock status of a product, author of a text, place of an event, or calorific value of a meal.

But one needs to remember that rich snippets are not displayed each time. What does it mean? It is Google that decides whether and which data are to be made available in search results. Additionally, structural data are often displayed depending on the phrase used.

It is worth implementing a solution such as rich snippets if only because of the fact that they increase the likelihood of a user clicking our link — it is a chance for its visual and textual distinction from other search results.