Rich snippets can cause a lot of confusion and frustration, so we've put together a super simple guide to ease the stress, including some helpful hints and tips to keep you on track, and get those organic product review stars on Google.
You may have heard of rich snippets, or this may be a completely new concept to you. Whatever level of understanding you have, this blog will provide a breakdown of its definition, the benefits, installation, and general advice.
Rich snippets (also known now as Rich Results) is a term used to describe the structured data which can be added to your webpage's HTML. Rich snippets in your HTML allows a search engine, in this case Google, to "read" your webpage and understand the information you present.
Once Google has determined the content of your page, it will then be able to display this in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). This information is displayed underneath your company name in the form of a blurb, and can also contain reviews, product photos, location, or pricing. This allows your company to then increase visibility within the SERPS, giving you the edge. There are a number of different types of Rich Snippets, but the most important as far as this blog goes is the Review Rich Snippet (Link to Google's technical documentation).
Rich snippets allow consumers to educate themselves more quickly to your services, instantly see the reputation of your business, and easily assess whether or not your services would be right for them. By accessing this information immediately before clicking your site, when customers do enter your webpage they're more likely to stay on the site longer. Ultimately, rich snippets have been found to increase click-through rates by 20-30%.
The structured data we get most excited about here at Reviews.io are Product Rich Snippets. In a nutshell, it is specific structured data on pages where you display reviews for your products, which allows Google to pull this information and display it in a search, and give you those fantastic organic stars!
Overall, Google is constantly scanning your website to determine what it is you do and offer to representatively display your services. Once Google pops this information in the search results, this increases your visibility. Thus, without rich snippets you handicap yourself against your competitors.
Now we know what product review rich snippets actually are and how they work, let's breakdown how to get product review rich snippets on your site.
Normally, if you were collecting reviews independently, you'd have to make sure that those reviews appeared on the page you wanted to add company review or product rich snippets to, in order for it to display your stars organically on Google. However, that's long-winded, so we made it a bit easier.
With the Reviews.io rich snippets widget, you simply put this on your site's pages (it's already choc-full of reviews,) and add the product rich snippets code for that particular page. All it takes is a bit of copying and pasting on your behalf.
It can typically take up to 2-8 weeks once rich snippets are installed for Google to start displaying your stars in Google natural results. Stay patient if you don't see anything within this time frame. Refer back to this guide and check through the tips. If after this time you're still having problems, feel free to get in touch.
*NOTE In order to use a widget, you must have at least 1 review.
The best place to look for instructions on getting Product Review Rich Snippets into Google is our support article on the subject, which will get you up to speed on the requirements.
If you're not using product review rich snippets, then get started now to increase visibility for your company, and offer your loyal customers deeper insight to your services. Head to our homepage and get your Reviews.io account today.
