What You Need to Know About Rich Snippets and SEO

Rich Snippet Information in San Diego, CA

There was a time when all it took to boost your ranking on search engines was adjustments to keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and the rest of your content. Google’s algorithm updates over the years have changed what’s considered when ranking a site, meaning it no longer pays to insert hidden keywords, buy links, and slip in some keyword-rich anchor text. Welcome to rich snippets.

Rich Snippets Explained

The result of a 2011 meeting with Google, Yahoo, and Bing was the creation of schemas, or protocols, that function similarly to keywords and phrases when strategically placed in your text. According to San Diego online marketing companies, in a nutshell, rich snippets require a special code found on schema.org to provide context for your content to search engine crawlers. Rich snippets also appear in search results, demonstrating a page’s relevance to the search query. These snippets can also be used to:

  • Direct browsers to download content
  • Display multimedia files
  • Promote specific events referenced within your content
  • Improve site navigation by taking browsers to pages relevant to them

Rich Snippets and SEO

As with keywords, browsers will notice no difference in the content. Schemas are meant to be used by webmasters who will attach the appropriate code to the preferred text. Coded text can apply to pieces of content that provide useful and relevant information for that page. In terms of SEO, the purpose of using these pieces of code is to improve a visitor’s search experience, which ultimately increases traffic to the pages via these rich snippets.

More code continues to be added to schema.org, which is essentially a search engine directory that provides more information about each webpage. You’re essentially telling browsers, “hey, look here,” which can enhance the value of your content and the credibility of your brand. As more protocols are added, expect rich snippets to become an increasingly important part of an effective SEO strategy.

Rich snippets are just one component of a comprehensive online marketing strategy. To learn more about using these or other tools that can help improve your company’s visibility and increase your bottom line, reach out to Saba SEO. We specialize in social media marketing, SEO, PPC, and website design and development. Call (858) 277-1717 today and ask about a free website audit!