A rich snippet is a normal Google result with extra information added under the blue link: a row of review stars, a price and "In stock", the cooking time of a recipe, or the date of an event. The page still sits in its usual spot in the results, it just takes up more room and answers part of the question before anyone clicks.
Where rich snippets come from
Google builds them from structured data on your page. When the crawler finds valid schema markup for a supported type, such as Product, Recipe, Event or Review, the page becomes eligible. Google then decides per query whether to show the extra details. Google now calls the whole family "rich results"; "rich snippets" is the older name that most people still search for.
Eligibility is not a promise. Google may skip the enhancement because the markup is thin, because the site's quality signals are weak, or simply because a plainer result suits that search.
Rich result types you see every day
- Product: price, currency, availability and sometimes an aggregate star rating from real customer reviews on the page.
- Recipe: a thumbnail, rating, total time and calories.
- Event: dates and venue listed under the result for a concert or workshop.
- Software app: rating and price for an app listing.
Picture a pottery studio selling gift vouchers online. With Product markup carrying a price and real reviews shown on that page, its listing can display stars and the price, which sets expectations before the visitor arrives.
Rich snippet or featured snippet?
They are often confused. A rich snippet decorates your own listing wherever it ranks. A featured snippet is a separate answer box Google lifts from one page and places above the regular results, and it does not need any markup at all.
Should you chase them?
For online shops, recipe sites and anyone selling tickets, rich snippets are the main visible payoff of adding markup, and a more informative listing usually earns more clicks, which shows up in your click-through rate. A consultant with a few service pages has fewer eligible types and can treat this as optional.
Why rich snippets fail to appear
- Marking up content that is not on the page. Stars must match reviews a visitor can actually read.
- Using an unsupported type. Plenty of Schema.org types are valid but produce no visual result in Google.
- Expecting them overnight. The page has to be recrawled before anything changes.
- Ignoring the Rich Results Test. It tells you exactly which properties are missing.
Related terms
- Schema markup: the code that makes a page eligible.
- Featured snippet: the answer box often confused with rich snippets.
- SERP: the results page where these listings appear.
- Click-through rate: the number a richer listing tends to move.