How to Add Rich Snippets to your WordPress Website
You are here because you want to know how to add rich snippets to your WordPress website. This article explains every bit of detail about rich snippets. In addition, we will explain what is schema and its impact to rank higher in Google. Now, let’s come straightly to the point!
Rich snippets and schema markup enhances the look and feel of a WordPress site in Google search result pages. However, it is a bit confusing to choose the right schema markup for getting rich snippets from Google.
Once you get used to it, they won’t be confusing anymore. All you need to choose the right tool. The tool should have a Google-approved schema markup. Confused? We will explain everything to you!
The tool we are going to use in this article is very easy to use. You need to set it up just one time. Then, the plugin handles the rest of the things for you. Well, the tool that we are going to use is Schema Pro.
Before diving deeper, let’s further clarify both terms. What are the schema markup and rich snippets? How both can be beneficial for your site? Do rich snippets play a role to rank higher in Google? Let’s answer the questions first!
Schema Markup and Rich Snippets help you to stand out in search results
Rich snippets and schema markup are two separate but tightly connected concepts. You can consider them as two sides of the same coin. Let’s initiate our discussion from rich snippets.
We are 100% sure that you are familiar with rich snippets. However, you don’t know them by their name. Nowadays, some experts refer to rich snippets as “rich results”. So don’t get confused with these terms.
After knowing that you are familiar with rich snippets, you are keenly waiting to know what they are! Well, let me ask one question. Have you seen extra information that search engines display on the search result pages?
Yes, you guessed right! That extra information is rich snippets! Rich snippets are search engines’ way to display extra information on the search result pages. Rich snippets can be simple to complex depending on the information that you want to display.
So they can show the simplest information like a star rating. On the other hand, rich snippets can be detailed information about a recipe. For example, they can be an image of food with a detailed recipe.
In fact, Google has thousands of possibilities to apply rich snippets. So what information Google adds as rich snippets depending on the search query. So it can vary from one search to another.
Why should you care about rich snippets?
You have learned enough about rich snippets. However, you might be thinking that what is their importance? Do they have any role to rank higher in Google?
The straight answer is NO! Google doesn’t consider them as a ranking factor. So if you were thinking to use them to make your site rank higher in Google, it’s not true. Don’t dishearten!
If you can’t get a higher rank in Google, it doesn’t mean they are not beneficial for your site. Still, they have a lot of benefits. For example, they can make your site stands out among all search results. So there are high chances for a snippet to grab more attention from the visitors.
Therefore, there is a high possibility that you will get more clicks. Don’t take snippets lightly! Although they can’t give you a higher rank, they can grab more traffic to your site!
In addition, schema markup plays a key role to enhance search visibility. We will explain the schema markup just in a while. So you can use different features of schema markup to improve visibility such as:
- Site Links: You can show some extra links against a search query for your site.
- Breadcrumbs: Instead of displaying your raw URL, it helps Google to display breadcrumbs.
- Site Links Search Box: Visitors can search your site using these features from the Google search results page.
So enough about rich snippets! Right? Let’s discuss the schema markup in detail.
What is schema? The connection between schema markup and rich snippets
So, you have learned a lot about snippets. You are familiar with the advantages of schema and snippets. Now, let’s understand what is schema markup.
Google uses schema markup to create rich snippets on the search results page. So it is basically the behind-the-scene-code that Google translates to create snippets.
You provide every bit of detail to Google using the schema markup. For example, you provide the recipe details to Google in the form of Schema markup. Google interprets this information and creates snippets depends on the search query.
In other words, it is a valuable context about the content you provide to Google. For example, you can provide a number to display your product ratings on the search result pages.
People look at the snippets to get information. On the other hand, Google looks at the schema to get information. So human visitors can’t see schema markup on your website unless they find it in raw source code. However, Google finds it in schema easily and displays It into the search results page as snippets.
Now you have gained a better understanding with schema and snippets. In the upcoming section, you will how to add rich snippets to your WordPress websites. There is no need to have any technical knowledge to add that schema markup.
A quick recap…
Let’s define both terminologies in a nutshell you have learned so far:
- Rich snippets: These are some extra information along URL that is visible to human visitors on the search results page.
- Schema markup: This is a piece of code that you have to add to your websites. Google or other search engines use this code to create snippets.
How to add rich snippets to your WordPress website?
You are familiar with what is schema and why we use it on our websites. You are also familiar with snippets. In addition, you can also differentiate between these terms.
Do you remember the plugin that we are going to discuss ahead? If so, that’s good! So if you don’t remember, we will learn about “Schema Pro”.
There are many WordPress schema available on the internet. So can use these plugins to add schema in your site. However, we are going to use Schema Pro.
Although this plugin is not free, still there are many reasons to use this. Here are a few reasons to choose this plugin:
- Automatic: For most plugins, you have to set your schema markup for each post and page. However, this incredible tool facilitates you to configure schema one time. Then, this tool will apply your defined schema on the rest of the related pages.
- Behind the scene: Most free plugins require a new content box to the front-end of your website. However, this tool utilizes behind the scenes Google schema i.e. JSON-LD format.
- Flexibility: You can add some custom fields. Although it is a bit advanced thing, this tool makes everything simple and easy to use!
Enough about this tool. Let’s get started!
Use Setup Wizard to configure schema markup basics
After installing and activating the Schema Pro plugin. Go to Settings –> Schema Pro and run the setup wizard. Otherwise, you can find a permanent link to the setup wizard in the configuration tab.
While setting up the wizard, you need to configure site-wide settings such as breadcrumbs and Site Links. Your website might have some other schema markup. If so, this tool will detect that and notify you about that. You will have an option to disable old schema markup to avoid conflicts.
Press the Start button to get started. You can choose your logo on the next page. In addition, you can choose the option of whether this website represents a company or a person. So it will pass it on this information to Google knowledge graph card. Click the Next button.
This page allows you to add different social media profiles to connect your website. Further, you can configure some important settings such as Site Links and breadcrumbs. Here you can also enable the Site Links search box. However, we recommend you to enable these all features.
By clicking on the question mark, you can get information related to the specific feature. Now, you have finished your basic site-wide settings. You are good to go to create your first schema for your site!
Create a schema for specific content
You can use a different type of content to create the schema. Different plugins support different schema types. Schema Pro supports 13 schema types:
- Article
- Course
- Book
- Job Posting
- Event
- Local Business
- Person
- Review
- Recipe
- Product
- Software
- Service
- Application
Different schema types create different schema information. The information varies from one type to another. For instance, if you select the Recipe schema type, you can add specific information for Cook time, calories, etc.
Contrary to this, if you select the Product schema type, you can add information for Stock status and price. So you will have to choose schema depends on your website type. For example, if you are running a blog, you will have to choose most probably the Article schema types.
It is not always the case that you need only one schema type for your website. You can choose as many schema types as you want for a single website. However, you must choose the right type. For example, for publishing public reviews, you will have to use Article schema types for your blog posts.
At the same time, you can use the Review schema type for your website. It will help you to publish your reviews. When you use more than one type, it can be complex to use. However, Schema Pro makes these tasks very easy for you.
First of all, let’s learn how to use the Article schema type for your blog.
Procedure to add the Article Schema
Follow the steps below to add the Article Schema in your blog:
Got to Settings à Schema Pro. Press the Add New link to create the schema.
Next, you will have to choose a schema type. For example, if you have a food blog niche, you can choose the Recipe type if you post different recipes.
Now, select an option where you want to apply that schema type. So here you can use different include or exclude rules to target the specific content on your site. However, for the Article schema type, you need to choose the All Posts option from the dropdown list.
It tells Schema Pro that you intend to apply the Article schema to all old and new posts. After choosing the right details, press the Next button to proceed. Now press the Complete Setup button to finish the setup.
Adding different schema markup types for different posts
The Article schema is the most suitable type to apply on your almost all blogs. However, there might be some cases where you need to use different schema types.
For example, to publish reviews, you will have to use the Review schema. However, we recommend you to use the Article schema type for everything else.
Do you want to add other schema types? Okay! Go back into the Schema setup wizard. Follow the same steps as above described. Choose the Review schema for this type.
The only difference between using the Article schema and the Review schema while choosing target pages. Instead of choosing All Posts this time, you need to choose Specific Pages/ Posts/ Archives, etc.
You can target the Review schema type to specific posts, categories and tags. The working mechanism is almost similar for all schema types. However, you will find different options.
How to test your schema?
You have added schema markup in your WordPress site. As you know, schema markup works totally behind the scene. But, how to test either schema markup is working properly or not?
You can use the Structured Data Testing Tool to test your schema markup. Google has provided this tool. Don’t get confused with the structured data and schema markup. Both are almost similar things.
Open Structured Data Testing Tool. Paste your site URL in this tool. Then, Google will tell you either it detects schema markup or not. If you have made any mistake in implementation, Google will notify you.
Final Words
Now you are familiar with the importance of snippets and schema markup. So you should implement it into your site. You can easily implement WordPress Schema using different plugins. You can use different tools to achieve this tool.
You will find different paid and free tools for this purpose. We have used a paid tool to guide you. However, you can use your desired tool. The working mechanism is almost the same for all plugins. However, they can come with different features set.
Try to follow the Google Schema format. JSON-LD is a recommend schema format offered by Google. So choose a plugin that uses this format. After using a markup schema, use the Structured Data Testing Tool to test your schema. Hopefully, that will work properly!