Displaying Rich Snippets in Google Search Results Doesn’t Impact Rankings

As Google has been displaying more and more types of rich snippets in the search results, people have questioned whether having them displayed on a site in the search results meant the site had a ranking boost associated with it.  And it is common to see the top ranked sites displaying them for many types of searches, whether searching for anything from a recipe to product.

John Mueller was talking about the usage of structured data on websites and it’s use in the search results, he commented that structured data can result in being chosen to display rich snippets.  Then he commented about the impact those rich snippets have on the actual search results.

So I think that’s something where you shouldn’t assume that adding structured data markup to a page will significantly change its ranking, but rather I would do this to help us to better understand the content on your page, and of course to make sure that we can pick up things that we could use for rich snippets, because while rich snippets also aren’t a ranking factor, they do make the search result a little bit more interesting and they might attract more people to click on your site, even if it’s not ranking first.

This isn’t surprising.  But I can see where people might feel that rich snippets could have some impact on rankings because often the sites that are displaying rich snippets from structured markup on the site are often the type of webmasters who are also actively doing SEO for the site as well.

So while you may want to keep trying to get those rich snippet results, having any of them displayed on your site’s search won’t give you any kind of ranking boost (nor will implementing structured data).  But again, having rich snippets can often lead to an increase in CTR, especially if your competitors aren’t displaying it too.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post

Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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