Written by Anastasia Kurmakaeva
Índice
What is a snippet?
When we talk about a snippet we refer to the text fragment that briefly describes the content of the page in the SERP of the search engines, that is to say, in the search engine results pages. It is therefore that description that summarizes the content of the accompanying link and that is extracted and becomes visible on the results page when a search has been performed.
When the user performs a search, search engines help the user by offering a small part of their content in descriptive mode on their results pages. This description together with the link, the URL and other enriching elements that accompany it, form what we call a snippet.
What is a snippet composed of?
The snippet has the following elements:
- Page title: which is created using the tag <title> and gives a title to the web page.
<title>Search Engine Optimization Consultant Human Level Communications</title>
It must be between 40 and 60 characters long, contain the keyword and be unique for each web page. By clicking on the title, the browser will take us to the URL or page to which it corresponds.
- URL or web address: shows the address to which the snippet title will take us, as the one shown here is not clickable.
- Page description: Google shows a part of the page content in the form of a description, you can determine it yourself using the meta tag <description>, with the syntax:
<meta name="Description" content="text describing the content of the page“>
The description should be between 130-155 characters and contain the keyword or synonyms for it, which will appear in bold when they match the user’s search. It is the most commercial part of the snippet, because through it we must be attractive and “sell” the content of the web page. Well-written copy helps the coherence and relevance of the page, improving the chances of getting a click and therefore the CTR (Click Throught Rate).
If this field is not completed, Google will take as description the first 150-160 characters of your web page, regardless of the text they contain.
- Structured data or microformats: we can provide Google with structured data from our website so that it has a better knowledge of it and can offer these to users when displaying their search results. With them, we enrich our snippet and the relevant information that Google can offer the user in that summary of the content of our website that is the snippet.
Rich Snippet or rich snippets
Throughout time, search engines have tried to make the results offered to a search as relevant as possible to the user, both in terms of the keyword that led to the search as well as the user’s own history, location, navigation, etc.
This is why we must try to perfect our snippets by offering a plus that consists of adding value through their enrichment. It is about adding, through microformats, certain data from the web page, which will be relevant and useful for the user with respect to the search performed and the knowledge that the search engine has of them.
These microformats, or RDFa, can be easily added to your website with additional tags or RDFa markup, both of which are valid.
If you want more information about these microformats and how to implement them in your web page so that Google shows them in your snippet when displaying search results, we recommend you to read this post about enriched fragments of our partner Jose Vicente Sabuco where he explains the benefit you can get with them.
How can I improve my snippet?
Use structured data to enrich your snippet and differentiate yourself. There are many tools that offer you the possibility to visualize how your rich snippet would look like. If you also want to improve it and optimize it to be more relevant and offer more useful information to the user about your page, you can use this Google test tool for structured data, you will be able to check yours.
Implementing structured data or microformats does not guarantee that they will appear in the snippet, Google uses its algorithm to determine which structured data will help users find quick and accurate answers and display them in the snippet.
The main structured data to enrich your snippet with are:
- Opinions
- News
- Videos
- Breadcrumbs
- Recipes
- Social elements
- Map
- Events
- App or software
- Phone
- Author
- Music
- Logos
- Products
- Reviews or ratings
- Articles
- Internal search box
