Rich snippets are pieces of information regarding your content that are utilized by search engines such as Google. These tidbits of information have potential to increase click-through rates by providing extra information regarding the search criteria. For example, if you installed WordPress rich snippets for your eCommerce site, search results for a particular product could display ratings and prices of that item.
Most commonly, rich snippets are seen as a star rating on various websites. This not only shows how many stars the particular post had received, but it may also display the number of votes or reviews.
What Can Rich Snippets Do For You?
Rich snippets can be designed to do a variety of things in search results. Ratings and descriptions are only part of what can be added. In fact, some plugins tailored for recipes can even display preparation time for cooking specific dishes. If someone is searching for a recipe regarding macaroni and cheese, your post could be more attractive by showing things like cooking time or even calories.
Sharing Images
Imagery is also a component of many rich snippets. In the example of a cooking recipe, certain plugins allow you to upload a thumbnail image of the food. This also has potential to show in search results of engines such as Google.
Reviewing Products
If you plan on hosting reviews of products on your website, WordPress rich snippets can help get your posts noticed in search engines by displaying the gist of the content. Some pro versions of these plugins are quite extensive and can add functionality to your site beyond the aspect of the search engine. Using a rating system, you can review all kinds of goods in order to engage your target audience on your pages.
Event Sharing
If you plan to use your website to advertise special events for the business or other gathering, a rich snippet can influence local search results. This can be greatly beneficial if you operate a brick-and-mortar location and wish to market a special occasion or sales event in your area.
How Do You Use Rich Snippets?
Once the plugin is installed, a new entry form should appear when you’re writing posts or pages. This section is usually under the text editor and will have fields that you can change. For example, some will have a variety of information you can create as a snippet for search engines including: article name, author, short description and image.
The information you can provide will be dependent on the plugin you install. However, they should create some kind of a control in the post or page you can adjust. Additional settings can be modified in your WordPress dashboard including the customization of the colors used by the plugin.
How Do You Get Rich Snippets?
There are many WordPress rich snippets to choose from. Simply go to “Plugins,” click on the “Add New” button on the top of the screen and enter “rich snippets” into the search bar. Plugins such as the All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets provides an extensive list of what can be added to your site. The hardest part about using rich snippets is finding the one that best fits what you’re trying to accomplish for your content.
Make Sure the Plugin Is Supported
Plugins that may sound perfect may actually crash your website. It’s important that you select plugins that have been tested with the current version of WordPress you’re using. A good rule of thumb is to find rich snippet plugins that have been updated three months ago at the latest. This will reduce the chances that it will affect your site in a negative way.
Rich snippets are easy-to-use methods to enhance the delivery of your content into search engines. Many people attest to how much of an improvement these have made for driving traffic to the website. It has been such a wide success that some developers of SEO tools in WordPress are incorporating rich snippets into their packages. Enhance the effect of your search results and develop your own snippets of information to share.
Have you used rich snippets successfully on your website? How would you use a rating system for your posts?
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