Ever wonder how some Google results have additional information like reviews and recipes?

The answer is they use schema markup (a form of structured data) to generate rich snippets. 

Rich snippets are special Google results that include extra information like recipes, reviews, and events. 

Here’s an example:

As you can see, this recipe includes:

  • Its average rating out of five stars (AggregateRating schema)
  • The total time it takes to complete the recipe (cookTime schema)

The website included ‘schemas’ that told Google which data was for its average five-star rating and which was for the duration of the recipe. 

Google results that don’t contain proper schema markup will not qualify for rich snippets, which is often to their detriment. 

Besides enhancing Google search results, rich snippets include things like knowledge panels and featured snippets (which highlight quick answers to common questions). 

Here’s a featured snippet we were able to qualify for thanks to our schema markup and outstanding content:

Also, as of May 2024, Google’s AI Overviews have become a prominent search feature, which are AI-generated responses to all sorts of queries:

Here, the overview contains information pulled from various sources online about CNC machines.  

But how does Google pull information for its AI Overviews?

You guessed it, schema markup plays a significant role. 

Schema markup also matters for getting your brand to appear in other AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. 

In this quick guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about proper schema markup for rich snippets and AI Overviews, so don’t go anywhere!   

What Are Rich Snippets, Schemas, and AI Overviews?

Before we move any further, let’s define what structured data is. 

Structured data is just data that follows a standardized format. 

In the online world, structured data typically refers to code that, when added to your website, adds extra context to your web pages. 

You can think of structured data as special labels for things like products, reviews, events, and recipes (among many others). 

These labels make it easier for search engines, bots, and even users to understand and identify different types of content. 

Rich snippets are a type of structured data that display special search results when included. 

Rich snippets go beyond keywords to help a search engine put certain data into context.

Okay, so what are schemas?

Schemas are an agreed-upon standardized vocabulary for structured data. 

All the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex) use schemas (from Schema.org) to provide a convenient way for users to include rich snippets. 

So, structured data is how you add extra context to your content, and schema is the specific type of structured data (or vocabulary) that Google uses for its rich snippets. 

Make sense?

Lastly, AI Overviews is a search feature that uses Google’s AI Gemini to generate brief yet detailed overviews of search queries. 

Schemas matter for appearing in AI Overviews because:

  • They provide Google with clearer context about your content 
  • AI Overviews pull information from rich results 
  • Schemas add credibility and structure

This means that proper schema markup will improve your visibility on AI Overviews, which is definitely a bonus. 

What schema markup looks like on the search results 

Once you add schema markup to your site, search engines can display certain types of information in more helpful ways. 

For example, instead of this normal-looking result with no schema markup:

You can instead show up like this product result that includes a picture and a price:

Or like this one that also includes an average rating out of five stars:

Because of these schemas, Google can display the website’s information in a much more meaningful way on its search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Since these types of search results are more visually appealing than plain search results, users are more likely to click on them. 

The proof?

Research by Search Engine Journal found that rich results had a CTR (click-through rate) of 58%, while non-rich results had a CTR of 41%. 

Who Can Use Rich Snippets?

While anyone can add schemas to their website, rich snippets will only display if your content currently ranks in the top 5 on Google. 

This is because Google only wants to display the most trusted, highest quality content in rich features like featured snippets, knowledge bars, and AI Overviews. 

That means that not all markup gets used. 

Google monitors rich snippets and requires that you follow specific guidelines. 

The image below displays some of Google’s guidelines for business reviews: 

What Types of Information Can Be Displayed As Rich Snippets?

Rich snippets take on several forms that visually align with different types of information. Each form (schema) includes certain types of data. 

We’ve already mentioned a few of these, which were cookTime and AggregateRating. 

Some other common examples are:

  • Restaurant — Displays average reviews and price range
  • Music Album — Includes lyrics and a link to play one or more songs
  • Person — Provides a phone number and photo
  • LocalBusiness — Location details (address, phone number) and provides customer reviews 
  • Author — Includes the author’s photo, name, and links to other articles/works
  • Recipe — Photo, recipe, rating, and time to complete the dish
  • VideoObject — Video image with play button and time
  • Product — Ratings, picture, and price range
  • Event — Event, date, location, time (future events only)

Once again, you can see the full documentation at Schema.org. 

Its search feature is especially useful if you aren’t sure which type of schema you need. 

Let’s say you want to display your business’s average rating out of five stars. If you didn’t know about AggregateRating, you may assume that the regular review schema is what you need. 

The good news is searching for ‘review’ on Schema.org brings up more specific results:

As you can see, it provides more than the vanilla review schema. 

It also includes other review schemas like AggregateRating, reviewCount, and ReviewNewsArticle. 

In our fictional scenario, you’d need to use the AggregateRating schema to display your business’s average rating out of five stars on Google’s SERPs. 

So, if you aren’t sure which schema you need to use, conduct a search to view all your options. 

How to Create Rich Snippets with Schemas

You can apply schema tags to your website in a few different ways:

  • Adding the markups yourself by inserting content tags into the existing HTML code. 
  • Using the Google Structured Data Markup Helper that allows you to pull a section of code off your website. You then mark it up by selecting what each element is in a drop-down menu. The tool then generates a new “marked up” code. This tool is great because it properly formats your structured data to adhere to Google’s standards. 
  • Using a CMS plugin that will allow you to fill in blanks and then generate the code for you – of which there are many. We’ll go over some specific plugins below. 

Regardless of the method you choose, it will be helpful to understand what’s going on behind the scenes, so we’ll walk you through adding the markups yourself.

There are 3 main facets of schema code that you’ll need to understand:

  • Itemscope
  • Itemtype
  • Itemprop

For this example, we’ll use the LocalBusiness schema. 

Do you not run a local business? 

Don’t sweat it. 

This example applies to ALL types of schemas, not just LocalBusiness. Simply take these steps and apply them to any type of schema you want to use. 

1) Itemscope 

You add itemscope to the code so that Google knows where your rich snippet begins and ends. 

We’ll also add “div” to the section of code at the beginning and end (if it’s not already there) to state that this is a block of text distinct from the rest of the page.

For example:

<div itemscope>
Your Other HTML CODE Here
</div>

Now Google knows exactly where your rich snippet begins and ends. 

2) Itemtype

Add this to the code to tell Google what type of “template” you’re using off schema.org. 

Templates are simply the schema types that we’ve gone over before, such as Review, AggregateRating, and cookTime. 

Since we’re a local business in this example, we’re using the LocalBusiness template. 

We’ll markup our code like this:

<div itemscope itemtype=“http://schema.org/LocalBusiness”>
Your Other HTML CODE Here
</div>

Now Google understands that the type of code we’re marking up is about a local business. 

Everything else that you include in this section will now appear in the context of your business being local (location, phone number, etc.).

This also helps with error handling during the testing phase.

For example, if you use the LocalBusiness schema but include a menu in your rich snippet, Google would flag it during testing (which we’ll discuss soon). 

As far as it’s concerned, a menu goes with the Restaurant schema (a different template), not LocalBusiness.

3) Itemprop

In addition to a primary template (itemtype), we’ll have sub-sections of information within our rich snippet with different properties.

For example, you will need to declare which parts are the name, date, street address, star rating, etc. 

The search engine now knows that the code to follow should be formatted as an address within the rich snippet rather than a price list or something else.

To determine what term to use for that information, visit the template that you’ve chosen on schema.org.

Our code for a local business might now look something like this:

<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/LocalBusiness”>
<h1><span itemprop=“name”>ABC Company</span></h1>
<span itemprop=”description”> We’re the place to find everything you need from A-Z.</span>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=“http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=“streetAddress”>101 Main Street</span>
<span itemprop=“addressLocality”> Chicagoland</span>,
<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>IA</span>
</div>
Phone: <span itemprop=“telephone”>000-000-0000</span>
</div>

Test Your Rich Snippet

Before going live, you’ll want to test your rich snippet with Google’s structured data testing tool.

Here, you’ll be able to review any errors, omissions, or recommendations. 

How long does it take for rich snippet markup to appear in the search engines?

Even if your site is holding top positions on SERP, it may take a little while for your rich snippets to render on Google.

Google says it may take “a month or so.”

However, there are no guarantees.

Remember that ultimately Google decides which rich snippets to display and which to ignore. Make sure that you test your snippets to make sure they are working correctly!

Plugins & Tools For Microdata Markup

There are a few tools available to make creating rich snippets easier for those with varying levels of coding ability. 

Schema Creator for WordPress

Schema Creator speeds things up so that your rich snippets can go live faster. 

You’ll start by answering some basic questions to help customize the experience. 

Next, you’ll choose a form. 

The fields below will depend on the form you select. Fill it out and the behind-the-scenes coding is done for you. However, you should always do your own testing as we discussed above.

WP Rich Snippets

WP Rich Snippets offers many flexible features that allow you to markup content and experience the benefits of rich snippets on your site. 

Similar to Schema Creator, you’ll simply fill out the fields and let the plugin do the rest.

Google Structured Data Markup Helper

Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper will create the necessary code you need to include rich snippets on your website.

Here’s how it works:

  1. First, you’ll choose a template and a page on your site.
  2. Your site will then appear and you can highlight the data to create a tag
  3. Google will give you the code with your microdata highlighted
  4. You can test your rich snippet to make sure that it looks the way you’d expect. 

Common Mistakes

There are a few common mistakes with rich snippets, here are the most common:

Unreadable content

All content in the rich snippet should be human-readable. 

That includes font sizes, colors, styles, overlapping elements, and anything else that could make the content hard to read. 

Low-quality content

In alignment with writing content for humans, the content on your page should be high-quality content. Also, the rich snippet itself should appear with no:

  • Strange spaces
  • Extraneous information
  • Weird capitalizations
  • Unprofessional images
  • Wrong spelling
  • Bad grammar
  • Inaccurate Information 

The rich snippet does not represent the page’s content 

Rich snippets that appear to mislead someone who clicks on them will be rejected. 

In other words, your rich snippet shouldn’t oversell the page and then under-deliver. Also, ensure that you use the proper schema for the type of content you want to display. 

Inaccurate content 

Check your sources and check them again. Make sure that the information in your rich snippet is 100% accurate. 

Google does not want to display false information, so you’ll have a better chance of getting your rich snippets featured if they’re completely factual. 

Conclusion

In summary, adding schema markup to your website qualifies you for rich snippets and improves visibility on AI tools. 

Featured snippets and AI Overviews are two powerful SEO positions, so you should definitely learn how to use schemas the right way. 

Do you need professional help with your structured data and SEO strategy?

Don’t wait to try out HOTH X, our done-for-you SEO service. You can also book a free strategy call with us to discuss your unique SEO needs (and solutions)!