Using Rich Snippets to capture more traffic
Rich Snippets are becoming increasingly common in modern SERPs. Google, as a company, wants to offer an unparalleled level of customer service, and part of this is offering relevant information directly in the search listings because it requires as little work from the searcher as possible. Rich snippets allow webmasters to display structured content (review sites, listings, show times) directly in the SERPs. It's important to remember that Rich Snippets, or Microdata as they are also known, will have no effect on on-page content, only in the search engine results.
At face value it might appear that this could be potentially detrimental to any SEO efforts by minimising the click-through-rate a webpage receives from the search engines because the user would have no need to click the link. However, the counter-argument is that the more eye-catching listings in the SERPs do demand a higher CTR, and this is supported by many search engine optimisation professionals who frequently use rich snippets for clients whose sites they are optimising.
Rich snippets provide a fantastic opportunity to give potential visitors a taster of the unique content that they are offering on their website. I have spoken before about the importance of including optimised Meta descriptions on your website, not only because of their technical SEO value, but because they can seduce users into your site. The rich snippets offer another dimension to Meta descriptions because they already show to the user that your site has information catered directly to their search query.
Another question you might ask is whether the implementation of rich snippets or Microdata will have any direct influence on ranking. Duane Forrester, the Senior Project Manager of Bing's Webmaster Program has stated in the past that while they don't directly influence rankings, they do help to distinguish your site in the SERPs. This should lead to a higher quantity of traffic and may indirectly influence ranking through other factors.
The conclusion is that rich snippets are becoming a great way for webmasters to create a more identifiable search listing. This helps searchers become more aware of a website and the type of content that they offer making it much more likely that websites will generate a great quantity of highly relevant referral traffic from the search engines. While they don't directly influence rankings, increased exposure in the SERPs can contribute to other important SEO factors being improved upon, such as the organic link profile, and this will influence rankings.
If you have any other queries about rich snippets or any of our internet marketing services then please leave a comment or contact us via our website.
