Rich Snippets

Rich snippets are search results that show extra details pulled from a page, such as review stars, a price and stock status, a recipe’s cooking time or an event date, alongside the usual title, URL and description. “Rich snippets” is the older name; Google now groups these enhancements under rich results, which also include carousels and other visual formats.

How it works

Most rich snippets come from structured data: schema.org markup, usually in JSON-LD, that states the facts on the page in a machine-readable way. Google lists the result types it supports in its search gallery, each with required and recommended properties. Valid markup makes a page eligible for a rich result but does not guarantee one; Google decides whether to show it, and the markup must describe content visible on the page.

The supported list changes. In August 2023 Google limited FAQ rich results to well-known, authoritative government and health websites and restricted How-To rich results to desktop. In June 2025 it announced it was phasing out several more types, including Book Actions, Course Info, Claim Review, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement and Vehicle Listing.

How it’s used in SEO and marketing

• Product pages: price, availability and review ratings.
• Recipes, events, videos and other supported types.
• Standing out on crowded results pages, which can lift click-through rate.
• Entity diagnostics: in MLforSEO’s entity evaluation lesson, seeing rich snippets but no knowledge panel suggests your schema is starting to work but your entity is not yet fully in the graph.

Example

A product page adds a JSON-LD Product block with the product name, an Offer (price, currency and availability) and an AggregateRating from genuine customer reviews shown on the page. After validation in the Rich Results Test, the listing becomes eligible to show stars and a price beneath the title.

Limitations and things to watch

• No guarantee of display, and structured data is not a general ranking boost.
• Markup that does not match visible content, or fake reviews, can lead to a manual action.
• Supported types are retired over time, so audit your markup against the current gallery.
• Google states that no special schema is needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, so do not mark up purely for AI features.
• Validation confirms the syntax, not that your facts are consistent across pages.

Learn it on MLforSEO

• Entity-Based Search in the LLM Era: How Google Structures and Interprets Entities
• Structured Data Automation with Python: Detect, Generate and Validate JSON-LD at Scale
• Consistency beats completeness: schema for machines, not results
• Schema Entity Audit Template
• AI Search & LLMs: Entity SEO and Knowledge Graph Strategies for Brands (course)