What are Rich Snippets?
Rich snippets allow websites to advertise their content better and gives users as much information as possible before they make the decision to click through to a website. You have probably been informed in one way or another that leveraging Schema.org markup (or other similar types of structured data) help to increase search engines' understanding of your site's content - this also enhances search visibility through rich snippets. This sort of structured data is a brilliant way to create friendlier search engine signals which have an impact on search rankings.
Citing your click-through rates (CTR) (which rich snippets greatly improve), is really worth the while. The higher up the search page the result, the higher the click-through rate. It's easy to monitor and in the past, has been one of the main - if not the exclusive - focus of marketers. In the context of a static and purely link driven search page, this has been the strategy that has most made sense... Until now.
Why are Rich Snippets Important?
These days, search results tend to contain rich media such as videos, reviews, images etc. This sort of content is good for reaching the top of rankings which is what led Blue Nile Research to conduct a study to assess which searchers click on rich media results below position 1 vs a non-rich media result in position 1.
These were the results:
Looking at these click results across the three scenarios, we can quite clearly see that the rich media-enhanced result in position 2 has an average of 61% of clicks whereas the same, unenhanced result in position 1 only has 48% of clicks. Then rendered insignificant and comparatively almost irrelevant is the unenhanced result in position 2 which received 35% of clicks. Rich snippets allow you to add media to them such as pictures and videos (which is what we recommend that you do to optimize your snippets) as evidently, this will get you the best click through rates. Not many other forms of SERP allow you have this media opportunity on the front page rankings of Google and offer you the chance to stand out. 
Will Rich Snippets Help you Rank Higher?
So, we've established that media enhanced rich snippets significantly increase your chances of click through but other than that, how can they help your rankings? Structured data, structured markup and rich snippets have always revolved around helping Google and other search engines to understand your content and hopefully mean that Google will make your search result snippet richer with the overall objective being to increase your click through rates as a result of organic traffic. Previously, Google has stated that these are not used in the ranking algorithm.
However, it would seem that things are changing after a statement from Google's John Mueller. He said that "over time, I think it [structured markup] is something that might go into the rankings as well." If there was ever a sign to start putting effort into implementing schema markup on your website, this is it! He continued on to say that in the long run, it makes total sense to use structured data but don't assume that using structured data markup with a site will automatically make it leap up the ranks.
Purely because a site is done technically well, it doesn't necessarily mean it is going to be relevant to users or that the content will be useful. Here is the full video of John Mueller:
Which Rich Snippet Formats are Best for E-Commerce?
For each company industry, different formats of rich snippets are most effective. Here are some formatting tips for E-Commerce businesses' rich snippets and things to include: - Limited time offers such as ‘Limited offer for Christmas period!' - Product name and price - Product availability - Review and ratings – put up your star ratings - Images and videos such as product images and videos of the product - Paid product search such as Google Shopping
What Next?
If you would like your website rich snippet and media enhanced, improves your chance of click through rates and will ultimately, help your rankings with Google in the near future, get ahead of the game and let us sort it for you! Drop us an email at: experts@eastsideco.com