SEO 101: Rich Snippets & Structured Data

Last year Google increased the length of "rich snippets" from 160 to 240 characters on average, which inspired a few questions on our social media accounts:

1. What is a rich snippet?

2. What is structured data?

These terms refer to the what and how, respectively, of search results, and their definitions should be self evident to SEOs and digital marketers. However, beginners may be confused by the complex definitions often found online.

One of the top results for the search "what is structured data SEO", a Moz article by Bridget Randolph, admits its complexity, sending readers to a cheat sheet:

"This all gets pretty confusing," writes Randolph, "so if you’re feeling less-than-crystal-clear right now, you might want to check out this great glossary cheat sheet..."

When researching SEO, try to discover the best resources for your knowledge level. Many top results reveal to articles written for SEOs. This is the case with Moz, which is a wonderful resource for experienced SEOs.

The Organic SEO Blog is a perfect resource for beginners. Our SEO 101 series is a great resource for simple, streamlined definitions. Here's an SEO 101 for rich snippets and structured data.

What is a Rich Snippet? 

A "snippet" is the portion of a search result that describes a page's content. In the image below, the page "title" is blue and the "page address" is green. The snippet is the date, "Jun 28, 2017" and the simple description: "Not sure what a rich snippet is? We'll explain it to you in plain English." In other words, a "snippet" is, simply a brief description of a web page.

However, the image above, from Yoast, is not a rich snippet--even its about rich snippets!

A "rich snippet" is an enhanced result, which provides more information or context than a simple snippet. Rich snippets are a common for e-commerce sites. In the image below, one of last holiday season's hottest toys (L.O.L. Surprise Dolls), is "enhanced" with features including the rating as well as extra characters:

The advantage of enhanced" features is obvious. On a search engine results page (SERP), rich snippets stand out, and may attract more clicks. So how do you make sure your website results are "rich"?

"Mark up" your site with "structured data."

What is Structured Data?

Structured data is website code that empowers search engines to offer a more comprehensive representation of your content in results.

"When you use structured data to mark up content," Google says, "you help Google better understand its context for display in Search, and you achieve better distribution of your content to users from Search."

The "mark up" is a standardized code "vocabulary" developed by the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing. All of the structured data vocabulary supported by these search engines can be found on Schema.org.The variety of "content types" supported by this vocabulary allows webmasters to perform different functions. For each type, a webmaster uses a specific mark up to enhance search results.

"A variety of content types qualify to appear in rich results," Google notes. "CreativeWork is a schema.org type definition that applies to qualifying content produced for reading, viewing, listening or other consumption, such as news articles, recipes, and videos. Other content types, such as products and local business listings, belong to the commerce category, which is a custom category we use to describe schema.org types generally intended for retail purposes."

Obviously, the web offers more complex articles on structured data. Try Moz. For a streamlined take, similar to ours, try Yoast.

The takeaway is simple: Changes in coding can dramatically alter the way your website pages appear on the search engine results page. To maximize the effectiveness of your website, add structured data to all pages.

Structured Data Mark Ups with Stepman's SEO

Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective social media marketing campaigns. Our SEOs understand how to use structured data to benefit your specific content type. For more information, call today: 215-900-9398.