What is a rich results testing tool? Well, imagine this. You type in a search query for the best brownie recipe and notice that the first search result contains a picture of a brownie along with a five-star rating from over 1,000 reviews. You probably trust that this recipe will be better than the one with just a link, correct?
Those little extras are known as rich results and are an important thing to keep in mind as you add content to your website. As such, you need to learn about rich results testing tools. In this article, you will learn what rich results are, what is a rich results testing tool, and how you can optimize your website to get the most out of a search engine’s rich results features.
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Rich Results
Before you can answer the question, “What is a rich results testing tool,” you must first understand what rich results, sometimes called rich snippets, are. When you enter a search query and hit go, all the listings that appear are the search results. The extra content listed along with a specific search result is what makes it a rich result. For example, if you search for bakeries in your area, and the bakery’s rating or price appears along with the usual meta description, title, and, URL, it is a rich result.
So why should you use rich results? The extra information provided by rich results can grab the attention of and ultimately attract more customers to your business. To reap these benefits, you need to structure your website in a way that allows for different types of rich media. As such, learning the answer to the question, “What is a rich results testing tool?” and using these tools is important.
Rich Results Testing Tool
A rich results testing tool will tell you what content on your website can be used for rich results and what information that would be used for rich results that you lack. Google offers a rich results testing tool to help you see how the information available online will transfer to rich results on the SERPs.
Google Rich Results Testing Tool
As mentioned, Google offers a free rich results testing tool. All you need to do is paste your website’s URL into the search bar and hit the Test URL button. This should return a list of rich results found on your webpage as well as errors. Review the results and make the necessary changes so that you have a greater amount of rich results at your disposal.
There is also an option to run the test using code. You will need to make sure you switch from URL to code by clicking the code button right above the search box as URL is the default. You can edit the code and test it as many times as needed to get the results you desire.
If you would like, you can also test using a user agent to see what rich results will appear on different types of user devices like smartphones and computers. As most users search the web using their phones, it is important to test using this agent, but you should also check other options to reach the maximum amount of users.
Because Google is one of the most popular search engines, it is important to understand how your website can be displayed in its SERPs. The Google rich results testing tool can help you understand how your search result will display in their SERPs, so take advantage of this tool.
Rich Text
You should also understand how Google forms the rich results. Rich text is a snippet of HTML code that tells Google what information the webpage contains. Rich text is then displayed with the Google search result. This extra information might be the push a searcher needs to click on the link to your website.
Rich Media
Rich results are not only embellished by text. The rich media of rich results could be an image or even a video. Visual content is known to be more engaging than text. If that picture of a brownie looks delicious enough to eat, a searcher will want to click the link to the website to find out how they can get a taste of it. It is a good idea to optimize your website in a way that allows rich media to show up in your rich results.
Types of Rich Results
You will notice that there is a lot of information about what types of rich results the information provided on your webpage. There are multiple types of search results that are considered rich results. Below are some that you should consider as you optimize your website for rich results.
Knowledge Graph Cards
Knowledge graph cards are large displays positioned on the right side of the search engine results page or SERPs. It can include images as well as text to inform the searcher what your business does and any special information that might be of use to the searcher.
Google grabs information from other sites like Wikipedia, your Google My Bussiness account, and relevant news articles. As such, it is important to monitor and keep these sources up to date to ensure the information in the knowledge graph is accurate.
Featured Snippets
Featured snippets, also called position zero, are a type of rich result that appears at the top of the SERPs. These results display as a paragraph, list, or table. Unlike a normal description, the featured snippet will appear above the link. Because of the position of the text, a searcher will be more likely to read a featured snippet.
Whatever the format, the purpose of a featured snippet is to provide the searcher with a little bit more information about the site so that they can pick the right one.
Enriched Search Results
Enriched search results are an interactive form of rich results. Searchers can filter options further than normal search results allowing them to filter to find exactly what they are looking for. Oftentimes, this type of rich results is used for job listings and events.
Discover Results
Discover results are only available for Android devices. This is a curated list of stories based on the user’s search history. These normally are search results with a cover image and an example of information contained in the result.
OneBox Results
Very specific questions, like what time is it, can be answered by a OneBox result. This rich result is displayed at the top of the page. If you ask what time is it, it will display the time. If you ask for a translation, it will display a translation. Essentially, if the query is simple enough, a OneBox result will answer it.
Creating a Rich Result
So, how do you make sure Google finds the information it needs to form rich results? Structured data is the answer. Structured data makes it easy for search engines to read the content that is on your website. You need to add code to your website in a standard vocabulary like the one from Schema.org. Schema is the most common language search engines use to describe the information on websites.
Unlike other rich results, Featured Snippets and Discovery results are not determined by structured data. Just having the correct information on your page is not enough to feature in these rich results. Your webpage needs to be deemed good enough to be featured.
This means that your website needs to be the best answer to a search query. It needs to be both reliable and well organized. This means that you need to take care that you are sourcing your information from credible sources and linking back to those credible sources. You need to spellcheck and edit your website for grammar errors or poorly constructed sentences. For each aspect of your website, you should research what words potential customers are searching to find similar content and sprinkle those words throughout the site. Many other SEO techniques can help you optimize your website for rich results.
Optimize Your Website For Rich Results
Now that you know what a rich results testing tool is, you can get to work using it to check that your website is optimized for the rich results you desire. It is a simple way to keep your website on track, so use the tool often. There is no downside to testing your site every time you make a change.
Now that you have finished this article, you should no longer need to ask, “What is a rich results testing tool?” but if you need further assistance, please contact SEO Design Chicago. SEO Design Chicago has a team of search engine optimization experts ready to help you optimize your website for rich results.
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