SEO is all about finding clever ways to gain more search engine traffic. While backlinks and on-page optimizations for improved rankings are a sure way to get more visitors to your site, rich results can be a Ninja-SEO tactic with a huge return on investment.
The problem is that many people are almost afraid to add structured data code in case it messes with their search results.
Other people simply implement the most basic code in the hope that they capture a few rich results.
Both situations are completely unnecessary when you have the right tools.
On this page, I’ll show you exactly why it’s important to target rich results (or are they rich snippets?) and how to easily do it with Xagio.
What Are Rich Results?
Rich results are enhanced search results that display more than just your webpage title, link, and meta description. They can include ratings, product data, features, and even an internal website structure, to name a few.
Here is a good example from Apple.
And here is an example of ratings and additional clickable links.
What rich results do is help your website stand out more in search results and even take up a lot more real estate on the first page.
You may have also heard of rich snippets and schema markup, which can make things a bit confusing.
I’ll clarify those shortly.
Ultimately, with the right structured data, you can achieve a very specific, rich result that will help you attract more clicks without having to jump higher in the rankings.
Before we go into all the benefits, let’s get some terminology straight.
Jargon Buster: Rich Results Vs. Structured Data Markup Vs. Schema
Whether you want to sound like an expert or just want to get over some confusion, rich result terminology is quite easily explained.
Rich Results
A rich result in search engines is anything that isn’t your standard search result. They used to be called rich snippets, but Google decided to change the term. People still use the two terms interchangeably, but “rich result” is the more up-to-date one.
Technically, rich results include anything extra that appears in each search result, the knowledge panels, the “People also ask” section, the map pack, and the image pack.
So, you’ll use this term whenever you want to refer to what is visible on the first page of Google and other search engines.
Structured Data Markup
Structured data refers to the data you need to collect in the schema code section. It’s not exactly the same as schema, which we’ll get to in a moment.
The way to look at structured data is the actual content you directly control to describe your webpage. It’s the data that is embedded in the hundreds of different tags you can choose from.
Schema
Schema is the actual language used to present your structure data in code form. RDFa, Microdata, and JSON-LD are examples of slightly different languages, with JSON-LD being the most commonly used one and recommended by Google.
And when you hear Google recommending something and using it in their own tools, then you better pay attention.
- Schema is the overall language code that is used to embed the structured data relevant to your page in order to achieve a certain rich result in a Google search
How Do Rich Results Help Your SEO Efforts?
There’s a common misconception that rich results have an impact on search engine rankings. While the structured data markup helps search engines better understand what a website or page is about, it doesn’t directly influence how search engine algorithms determine rankings.
However, snapping up a rich snippet can have a huge impact on the number of clicks.
Here’s why.
Rich snippets enhance the way your page will display on the search results page. This will either provide you with more real estate, for example, with additional silo information, or eye-catching things like star ratings.
These are vital factors in conversion rate optimization (CRO), allowing you to achieve more clicks with the same rankings.
Even if you don’t have the #1 spot in Google yet, you’ll be surprised how many extra clicks you can get with cleverly planned rich results.
But don’t ignore rich results if you do have the top spot in the SERPs.
See, Google is dedicating more and more space to ads that appear before the organic results. That tends to dilute the number of clicks you get even when you are in the top spot.
A great rich result optimization will counteract the impact paid ads are having on your clicks, giving you an extra traffic boost.
Planning Rich Results For Your Site
Before you just add structured data in a random way to all your pages, make sure you think through what kind of rich result is available for each page.
1. Choose The Type Of Rich Results
Within structured data formats, there are many different types you can encounter for rich results. Here are just a few:
- Breadcrumbs
- Review snippets
- Product snippets
- Recipe snippets
- FAQ snippets
- How-to snippets
The first thing you need to do is take a look at the main ranking keywords for a page and check whether Google has assigned a rich result for the keyword.
See, there’s no point in just picking one that you’d like to achieve when Google has decided that a completely different type is more suitable for the search intent.
2. Create The Structured Data
Once you’ve got more information about the relevant rich result to target, you would either manually create the structured data or use a tool like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.
It’s a simple tool but requires a lot of copying and pasting, and you’ll ultimately have to use another plugin on your website to embed the rich results code in the right place on the page.
You’ll have to get a bit familiar with the technical side of HTML code for rich results, but there’s a way to do this using AI automation with Xagio.
More on that shortly.
3. Validate And Implement Structured Data
Before adding structured data markup to your site’s code, it’s best practice to validate it.
If you’ve got some typos in the code or data, you could end up with an invalid schema that search engines won’t properly process.
It won’t cause issues for rankings, but you also won’t pick up those rich results you’re looking for.
In my experience, small errors in the code account for the majority of issues when people can’t seem to get the rich result they’re looking for.
All these steps, including the rich results test, are manual.
But I have a better option for you.
Implementing Structured Data With Xagio
The common process for creating and validating structured data is with tools like Google Tag Manager and Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.
However, using these tools creates a fragmented process where you need to copy and paste between different apps to snap up a rich snippet.
Xagio makes that a whole lot easier.
1. Choose The Type Of Rich Results
The first thing you need to do is check your top-ranking pages and keywords and then see which ones have a snippet in the Google search results.
You can do this by running a Xagio Audit on your site as a starting point to identify your top-ranking keywords.
Google Search Console is another way to check for rich results you have already captured.
The reason I recommend this step is to save yourself some time, as you can ignore keywords and pages that Google Search Console has already identified for rich results.
Once you have your list of pages and keywords, things get very easy.
2. Create Your Own Structured Data In Xagio’s Cloud App
If you’re an experienced SEO and have done some manual rich result coding, then Xagio is a great way to speed up that process.
Simply log into the Xagio Cloud App and head to the Schema section. In the Schema Editor, search for the type of schema you want to apply to the page and select the most relevant one
Once you select the type, the editor allows you to search for and choose different tags, give it a name, and save it to a specific folder.
For each of the tags you want to populate, you then have the ability to add values that are relevant to the page.
Once you’re happy, save the schema, and then you can add the structured data markup from within the WordPress editor under the Xagio plugin settings.
It’s a simple process, but I have a better and faster option for you.
3. Duplicate Competitors' Structured Data
My favorite way to capture rich snippets is to copy what competitors are doing. In step one, you identified the pages and keywords that have rich results in the SERPs.
What Xagio allows you to do is simply copy the URL of a competitor page and then duplicate the rich snippet schema while replacing tags with your own data.
Here’s why this works so well.
Firstly, Google is already telling you that it favors a certain type of rich results and that a page has a good schema with the right data.
Secondly, with just a few clicks, you’ve got the right type of schema and the right tags ready to populate.
All you need to do is click on the “Duplicator” button in Xagio’s Schema section and then enter the URL of your competitor. Xagio then pulls data from the schema and you can replace the information in each tag so that it matches your site and page.
Believe me when I say this is the easiest and fastest way to get schema markup onto your site
4. Use Xagio’s AI Schema Generator
Another very simple way to add rich snippet schema to your pages is by using the AI schema generator.
Open the WordPress editor for a page or post, scroll down to the Xagio plugin section, and click on the Schema tab.
Click on the “Generate Schema” button and in less than 10 seconds, Xagio will generate and assign the ideal schema.
You’ll need XAGS to run premium features like the AI Schema Generator, and you can learn more about topping up your account here.
5. Test The Schema
No matter which way you created the schema, it’s important to run a rich results test before you add the code to your page.
With the Xagio Schema Editor, you also have a test feature that validates the code.
This will check the code for any significant formatting errors that would make it unreadable for major search engines.
I always make this part of my last steps before I add the schema to a page.
Get The Most Out Of Search Engines With Xagio
Every SEO strategy has to account for rich snippet targeting, as it’s one of the easiest ways to boost click-through rates from search engines.
With Xagio, implementing structured data markup doesn’t have to be a technical challenge or repetitive task. We have implemented AI-powered technology that makes it easy, effective, and insanely fast.
If you don’t have a Xagio account yet, then register today and see how quickly you could be increasing traffic to your sites.