Why Are Rich Snippets Important For an eCommerce Website?

May 12, 2017,
Rich snippets are among the advanced SEO tools that supplement valuable information about a page to the search engines when the crawlers scan it. The additional product information like price, reviews, stock statuses and other attributes are displayed in the snippet to help the users, as well as search robots, know about the product pages. In fact, a rich snippet is a form of common language that is added for the understanding of users. So, rich snippets prove to be an impressive tool for showcasing relevant and useful information right in the SERPs. The online shop owners need to customize their websites according to the platform they use. Magento and WooCommerce have widely used eCommerce platforms which give the merchants endless opportunities to modify the code for adding structured information. One of the easiest methods is the installation of plugins, extensions, and modules. The Rich Snippets Magento extension is one of the commendable tools that help webmasters to easily add information in different categories, and improve the appearance of rich snippets in search engine result pages. Importance of Rich Snippets for eCommerce Websites An eCommerce website may want to display a product with lots of features and attributes. These are discussed and highlighted on a landing page, but how to let a user know about all these features if he does not visit the page at first place. The importance of rich snippets is recognized here when you need to display more information along with the title, URL and description right in Google searches. It allows sellers to showcase product information while showing off the landing pages in search results, and compels users to click and visit the link. Following are some of the aspects that recognize the importance of rich snippets for an eCommerce website. - It Increases Click Through Rate Rich snippets allow merchants to showcase more useful information right in the SERPs. For instance, you can display product price, customer reviews, availability in different colors and shapes, and other attributes. It allows the users to quickly know the facts about a product they need to purchase, so they click confidently. The online research is often disappointing when a user visits a website, find a desirable product, but comes to know it is out of stock. Such incidents have a negative impact on the potential buyers of an eCommerce website. They don't only abandon the website for now but decide not to visit it again. In the same manner, the users often report the unavailability of products in stores nearest to their locations. With the help of rich snippets, you can easily narrow down the choice for your target audience by providing all the relevant information before they even click to visit your store. - Stand Out From the Crowd The search engine result pages are flooded with websites that deal in the same products or services. A business can excel in these results by putting additional information on the display and will stand out from the crowd. In the internet world, the competition starts right in the search results. The more you provide useful and relevant information, the more you are recognized by the users. In the crowd of millions of search results, you can be the one that is facilitating users with hands on knowledge. Users find it interesting to click, and thus visits the respective page. - Rich Snippets Improves User Engagement The front end design empowers users to form an opinion about your website, whereas rich snippets give them a reason to stay for longer and explore other aspects of a product. Generally, users are ignorant about your website before they visit it, but after reading the structured information right in the search engine, they possess the required details which make it easier for them to browse through different products and take purchase decisions. A common user wants to grab most of the information about a product or website in a go. They need to quickly select an eCommerce website where they can place orders. But, somehow they abandon the card due to an increased price or the absence of customers’ testimonials. To save their time, they always need to know these facts quickly before clicking on a link. With rich snippets, they acquire the information at first glance and spend more time in finding other attractive features. This saves time and ensures a higher conversion rate. - Rich Snippets Help Achieve Higher Rankings With the rich snippets, a webmaster can educate the crawler about more product relevant information, which directly impacts search engine rankings. It may not a direct impact in signaling the rankings for higher positions, but it improves the bounce rate and clicks through rate of a web page that ultimately boosts the rankings. Conclusion The key to success of an eCommerce store is to educate users on their marketing efforts. The link bait techniques are obsolete. Today, the users want product specific data so that they can easily take a purchase decision. Through informative articles and blog posts, you can educate them to pursue products with certain attributes so that they can search and click websites according to their needs. Merchants can make the best use of rich snippets to display product information right in the search results so that users prefer to click, visit and purchase the item.