What Is a Rich Snippet?

Rich snippets are created with schema markup, standardized tags that tell crawlers exactly what your page contains. Valid markup makes the page eligible for an enhanced listing in search results. Eligible is the operative word: Google decides whether to show the enhancement for each individual search, and correct markup never guarantees it.

Search for a recipe and you can see what the markup buys. A plain result shows a title, URL, and two lines of text. A rich snippet shows the same listing with a 4.7-star rating, "45 min," and "320 calories" beneath the title, so searchers can judge the page before they click.

The honest benefit is visibility, not rank. Google's John Mueller said again in April 2025 that structured data won't make a site rank better. What markup can do is make your listing more noticeable, which can raise its click-through rate. In Google's own case study, Rotten Tomatoes added structured data to 100,000 pages and measured a 25% higher click-through rate on the enhanced pages. Nothing guarantees that lift, and the extra detail cuts both ways: a displayed price or a middling star rating can answer the question, or discourage the click, before anyone visits. When the details work in your favor, more clicks from the same positions means more organic traffic without ranking a single spot higher.

Rich snippets and AI Overviews

AI Overviews changed the results page, not the case for markup. Google's AI features documentation says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews beyond normal SEO, and the organic listings below those summaries still show rich results. Clicks are scarcer, though. Google reported 2 billion monthly AI Overviews users in 2025, Semrush's November 2025 roundup put zero-click searches at roughly 60%, and estimates of how many queries trigger an AI Overview vary too widely to quote one number. When fewer searches end in a click, a listing with stars, prices, or thumbnails has a better shot at the clicks that remain.

Rich snippets vs. rich results

A rich snippet is one kind of rich result: a normal organic listing enhanced with extra details. "Rich result" is Google's broader umbrella name, adopted on December 19, 2017, when it consolidated rich snippets, rich cards, and enriched results under one label. Google's documentation now uses it for any richer appearance in search results that structured data enables, so the umbrella also covers features that go beyond a single enhanced listing. People still say "rich snippet" informally for most of these, but the two names aren't perfectly interchangeable. Use the current name when you're looking anything up: Google's documentation, the Rich Results Test, and the enhancement reports in Search Console all say "rich results."

How to get a rich snippet

The process has 3 steps:

1. Add structured data for a supported content type. JSON-LD is Google's recommended format. You can write it by hand or let an SEO plugin generate it.
2. Validate the page with Google's Rich Results Test. It flags markup errors and previews how the enhancement can look.
3. Wait for Google to recrawl the page. Valid markup makes it eligible, and Google chooses per query whether to show the enhancement.

For the code itself, follow our beginner's guide to schema markup, which walks through adding and testing markup step by step.

Rich snippet vs. featured snippet

A rich snippet enhances your own organic listing; a featured snippet is a prominent answer Google extracts itself, usually shown above the standard organic listings. The two get confused constantly and work in opposite ways:

• A rich snippet is your own organic listing, enhanced with extra data such as star ratings, price, or prep time. You earn eligibility by adding structured data to your page.
• A featured snippet is the highlighted answer box Google usually places above the organic results, built from a passage Google extracts itself. No markup controls it.

Common rich result types

Google's structured data gallery documents roughly 30 rich result types. Some enhance your own snippet, which is the classic rich snippet; others, like job postings and merchant listings, feed richer search experiences that reach beyond a single listing. These are the types most sites use:

• Review snippet: star ratings and review counts beneath the title. Google has ignored self-serving reviews since September 2019, so stars a business marks up about itself on its own LocalBusiness or Organization pages won't show, even when the markup validates
• Product and merchant listings: price, availability, and shipping details
• Recipe: cooking time, calories, ratings, and images
• Event: dates, times, and venue
• Job posting: role, employer, salary, and location
• Local business: hours, ratings, and directions
• Video: thumbnails and key moments
• Article: headline and larger-than-thumbnail images
• Breadcrumb: the page's position in the site hierarchy

Supported types change. Google retired HowTo rich results in 2023, for example, and dropped FAQ rich results entirely in May 2026, after limiting them to well-known government and health sites since 2023. Check the gallery for the current list before you build, then mark up the type that genuinely matches your content.