What are Rich Snippets and why should I use them?

Rich Snippets is the term used to describe structured data markup that site operators can add to their existing HTML, which in turn allows search engines to better understand what information is contained on each web page. However, the major search engines have taken this a step further and now use this markup to present richer search results, enabling users to more easily find the information they are looking for.

Under normal circumstances, when your website shows up on a SERP, Google, or other search engines, it displays the site title, URL and whatever meta description you have assigned to the page. When Rich Snippets are employed, Google is now able to display a bit more information about the actual result, including whether this particular result is a review, a person, a product, business and more.

This additional information in search results makes your listing more noticeable in search, which means more organic traffic for your site.

Adding Rich Snippets in WordPress by using a Plugin.

Thankfully, adding Rich Snippets to your WordPress posts is quick and easy. The first thing you need to do is install and activate the All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets plugin. Upon activation simply click on the Rich Snippets menu icon in the sidebar to continue.

You will be presented with a list of content types that you can create with this plugin. The list includes; Item Reviews, Events, Person, Product, Recipe, Software App, Video and Article.

Now all you need to do is create a new WordPress post or edit an existing one. Scroll down to underneath the editor and you will find a new meta box labelled Configure Rich Snippet. Clicking on this will present you with a drop-down menu where you can select one of the content types listed earlier.

Once you have selected your content type you will be displayed with the Rich Snippets fields that need filling. For example, selecting the Article content type will display this image below.

You are not required to add all fields but some of the fields are required by Google to display rich snippets. 

There you have it! That’s how to add Rich Snippets to your posts in WordPress. It should be noted that Google and other search engines may not immediately pick up your rich snippets or show it in search results. How do you know that you are using rich snippets correctly on your site then?

Just simply visit Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. You can either paste your markup in the toolbox or click on the Fetch URL link to enter a URL. Click on the Validate button and the tool will review your markup.