Search engine optimization (SEO) has been an essential part of growing your business online since Google launched its first search engine in 1998. SEO relies on keywords and metadata to help search engines determine which web pages are most relevant and useful to users. With the latest update to Google’s Rich Snippets feature, there are now more ways than ever to attract the attention of potential customers with high-quality, keyword-optimized content that makes your website look good, too.
If you’re not familiar with Rich Snippets, they’re the magical search result additions that include price, rating, and reviews on Google and other search engines. The more of these elements you can add to your pages, the better your rankings will be. While most people think of getting Rich Snippets as the icing on the cake when it comes to SEO, it really should be seen as essential to your marketing strategy. Learn how to get Rich Snippets in this guide.
What is it?
Rich snippets are a way to add data and meta-information about your business right into the search engine results page (SERP). It is important for any business, regardless of size or industry, to have rich snippets. This is because it improves your visibility on the SERP, which in turn increases your chance at being found by potential customers. The two most popular types of rich snippets are reviews and ratings.
The obvious question that arises at this point is how do I get rich snippets? For your business or organization to appear in search engine results, Google needs to have information about you. This is why one of your first priorities must be registering with Google My Business. As a registered business, you can ensure that key details such as your address and phone number are correct and up-to-date.
Be sure to include images and descriptive text so that people can learn about your business at a glance. Another step for getting rich snippets on the site is creating a Google+ Local page, which is linked directly from your business listing on GMB. You can create an online presence for your company by creating pages for individual products or services.
Should You Care?
Rich snippets are snippets that show up in search engine results pages (SERPs). With a little effort and time, you can create rich snippets for your site. The potential benefits are huge and could ultimately lead to increased traffic, better SERP rankings, and more conversions.
Write a professional response on the following subject. Some common types include resumes, cover letters, emails etc. Use English and avoid misspellings and grammar errors.
Keep it short and concise. One paragraph is enough but feel free to add an extra paragraph if you feel it’s necessary. Anything under 500 words is good unless otherwise specified in question description/instructions.
Format your response as you would like it to appear in google search results pages (SERPs). Make sure each sentence is grammatically correct by either avoiding sentence fragments or making them clear cut if you use them at all (commas before conjunctions are preferable).
6 Tricks to Improve Your Google Results
1). Optimize your content with appropriate keywords in the headline, title, and URL.
2). Ensure you have an easy-to-scan layout that includes headings and subheadings.
3). Keep your paragraphs short (less than 100 words) so search engines can find them easily.
4). Provide concise but descriptive meta descriptions for each page or post on your site to help searchers quickly identify what your content is about when they see it in their results window or on Google+.
5). Implement a sitemap using one of many available options like Google Webmaster Tools or WordPress XML Sitemaps plugin.
6). Link internally to other pages on your site by including links within the text as well as linking to related posts from within a blog post.
Quick Wins (1-5)
Stay up-to-date on Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and make sure you are following them. – Use structured data markup for your web pages whenever possible. Structured data is a way for webmasters to indicate the type of information on their page so it can be easily crawled and understood by search engines. – Make sure your site is mobile-friendly as well as accessible.
Mobile users account for nearly 50% of all website visits, and they’re often searching while they’re on the go, which means they may not be able to view a site properly if it’s not optimized for viewing on mobile devices.
You’ll also want to make sure your website loads quickly. Google measures site speed as a signal for ranking pages in search results, and it’s important that your pages load within 3 seconds for mobile users. If you need to speed up your site, there are several tools out there that can help.
One free option is GTMetrix which will analyze how well-optimized your site is from a performance perspective. You can then compare those findings with competitors’ websites and see where you might need improvement.
Longer Term Improvements (6+)
One way to get rich snippets is by using Schema markup. This will allow you to publish structured data in a format that search engines can understand. Structured data is a machine-readable format that provides additional information about your content’s topic and can improve your rankings in the SERPs.
In order for this process to work, you need to include a property and item type URL on the page, as well as an hCard (HTML for contacts) which includes a title, name, URL, photo, and more information about yourself or the company. Check out these Schema code examples that are Google-approved!
Another way to get rich snippets is by applying Google Authorship Markup. Although we are talking about Google rich snippets, it is worth noting that other search engines use markup and it’s all part of your content optimization strategy.
Having your photo in search results can help give people a better idea of who you are and can make trust a bigger factor when deciding which links to click on.
Advantages of Rich Snippets
Rich snippets are powerful tools for improving your website’s search engine ranking and spreading the word about your business. They can be added to your site through Schema markup and HTML, which can often be done in just a few simple steps.
For example, if you have an event coming up that you want people to know about, you could add a snippet that includes the event’s name, location, start and end date, and time. Once you create these pieces of information in Google My Business, they will show up as rich snippets on relevant searches when people search for events happening near them.
1). Rich snippets make it easier for potential customers to find your business online.
2). They allow other websites to use content from your site.
3). Rich snippets can help drive more traffic to your website by helping people find what they’re looking for faster and by allowing others to link back to or repurpose content from your site.
