A few years ago, Google introduced the world to the concept of “Rich Cards”; what we today call rich results used to be referred to as rich cards. Rich Results were created to provide users with a better experience for their queries in Google’s search engine. These results are generated through focused SEO using schemas and structured data that display expanded search results, thereby helping users find what they are looking for—sometimes even without clicking through to the page—and providing more real estate in the search results for websites with rich results on Google.
What is the difference between rich results, schemas, and structured data?
Google does not define exactly what schema markups are, since they were created by schema.org and do not focus solely on user behavior in Google search; therefore, SEO specialists must rely on Google for everything related to site optimization. Google refers to schema markup as a structured data format—the required way to generate structured data, and thus schemas must be used to create structured data. Google representatives have explained the topic in depth, stating that structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the content on it. For example, on a recipe page, the content can be broken down into ingredients, cooking instructions, calories, etc.
Rich results are a Google Search experience that goes beyond the standard link leading to a website. These results are powered by structured data and can include an image carousel, a single image, or other non-textual elements. Over the past few years, Google has developed a Rich Results Test tool (out of beta since 2020) that helps you test the structured data on your page and preview your rich results.
Types of rich results in Google Search
- Article
- Book
- Breadcrumbs
- Carousel (available only for recipes, courses, restaurants, and movies)
- Course
- Dataset
- Educational Q&A
- Employer Rating
- Estimated Salary
- Event
- Fact Check
- FAQ (since 2023 shown only for well-known government and health sites)
- Home Activities
- How-To Guides (no longer shown by Google since 2023)
- Image Metadata
- Job Posting
- How-to Video
- Local Business
- Logo
- Math Solver
- Movie
- Podcast
- Practice Problems
- Product
- Q&A
- Recipe
- Review
- Sitelinks Search Box (retired by Google in 2024)
- Software App
- Discussion
- Subscription and Paywalled Content
- Video
Which rich results does Google Search Console support?
In Google Search Console, there is a section reserved for rich results in Google Search called “Enhancements.” In each of the tabs that open under the Enhancements section, you will see rich results that are used on one or more pages of your site. Inside each of these tabs, you will receive a customized report for the rich result, detailing which fields you are missing to complete and maximize the rich result, as well as listing any errors in your structured data configuration that affect the page. Unfortunately, Google Search Console can currently read only 22 of the 32 existing rich result types and still cannot read major results such as: podcast, movie, local business, article, book, and more.
Google has already announced that it is continuing to develop Google Search Console to support additional rich results, and in the coming months, we expect to see more and more results within Console, depending on our search engine optimization efforts and our use of structured data on the site.
Can more than one rich result be added to a single page?
Any use you make of rich results on your website’s pages will help Google better understand what is on the page, and this will help make the page more accessible to the user, which will ultimately improve your rankings in Google results. The equation is simple: the more rich results you use on your page, the clearer and more effective it will be for the search engine and users. There is no maximum limit of relevant rich results per page; you should use whatever is relevant to present the page better. You can check how many rich results you have on a specific page in Google Search Console by entering the URL into the Console search bar:
Improving rich results in Google
The best way to increase and improve your pages’ rich results in Google is to optimize your website and its individual pages. Here are some key tips to help you get the most out of rich results on Google:
1. Provide answers to questions and relevant information on the page
Ranking for pages that provide relevant information to the user is a great way to secure a prime position in search results via rich results. Sometimes, a highly accurate result will reach position 0 on Google, which is the best possible ranking you can achieve. When a rich result displays partial information from your page before users even click on it, it may lower the CTR and reduce traffic to the site; however, if such a result includes only part of the information, users will have a good enough reason to visit your site to view all the content available on the page.
2. Create content in a format search engines love
To get rankings for the rich results you create on your site’s pages, you need to ensure the content you produce matches the correct format preferred by search engines in general, and Google Search in particular. Add relevant schema (structured data) to the page based on the content it contains—recipe, book, video, FAQ, and more. This markup will help the search engine understand the page content and rank you accordingly.
3. Ensure your website provides a high-quality browsing experience
Provide users browsing your site with a high-quality browsing experience, both in terms of page content—which should be relevant and meet the user’s needs—and in terms of site and page loading speed. Fast loading speeds help users navigate smoothly and quickly between pages without delays. Combining these two elements helps you offer users quality, up-to-date information alongside intuitive navigation and a fast browsing experience—a winning formula for high rankings on Google.
4. Perform organic SEO activities on the site
The content on your website will not automatically rank immediately after implementing schema and structured data, nor right after receiving rich results in the search engine. First and foremost, you need to perform Off-site and On-site SEO activities to promote your site on Google in order for rich results to have a significant impact. Be sure to carry out essential actions such as defining meta titles and meta descriptions on every page, optimizing headings, creating and uploading new content, acquiring backlinks from other websites to yours, and more.
5. Encourage users to leave reviews on the site
User reviews and star ratings are a great way to build trust in your products or business. There are several types of rich results (among those mentioned above) that automatically pull ratings and star ratings directly into your search result, so you need to gather authentic, positive reviews with recommendations from satisfied customers so that the stars appear prominently on Google and encourage users to click on your site.
6. Write content naturally
Google rich results rely on properly structured text content. When creating content for the site, you must ensure it is written naturally and primarily aims to answer user queries and assist visitors in finding the information they seek. Natural writing will help you rank your content for text search queries as well as voice search queries, provided you are relevant to what is being said or written.
Summary
When you want to implement rich results on your website’s pages, you must ensure you present accurate information for both the user and the search engine. You can highlight to search engines critical information you want to make accessible to users by using schemas and structured data, which essentially lay the foundation for obtaining a rich result in Google. Rich results are critical pieces of information displayed beyond the standard search snippet, providing added value to the query the user searched for on Google. These results boost your visibility in the search engine and increase click-through opportunities, which ultimately drives more traffic to your site.
About the Author
Dvir Naaman, 27, graduate of the Digital Marketing course at HackerU College. Experienced in building WordPress sites, LinkedIn PPC advertising, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. Specializes in organic SEO at Fialkov Digital. Has extensive experience in e-commerce and dropshipping, and is the owner of Merchant Center – a website aggregating information on e-commerce platforms and advanced marketing systems to increase business conversions, with an emphasis on e-commerce store sales.
