Google launches rebranded Rich Results testing tool
Google is set to launch a new version of its structured data testing tool for rich results. The firm said from now on it will be labelling all rich snippets, rich cards or enriched results as ‘Rich Results’, grouping them under one umbrella. The new tool is set to ‘focus on the structured data types that are eligible to be shown as rich results’.
This will allow you to test all data sources on your pages, which will include the recommended JSON-LD, Microdata or RDFa. The new version is supposed to be a ‘more accurate reflection of the page’s appearance on Search and includes improved handling for Structured Data found on dynamically loaded content.’
Although the tool currently only supports tests for Recipes, Jobs, Movies and Courses, Google has said it will be adding support for other rich results over time.
What are rich results?
These are search the results that go beyond the standard blue link, and may include a carousel, image or other non-textual UI elements. The test for rich results allows you to go beyond your publicly accessible page and see which results are generated by the structured data it contains. Simply submit the URL of the page you want to test. It must be a page that is publicly accessible to any anonymous user, although you can still test pages behind a firewall by using a funnel.
The test will show which result types were found on the page as well as any errors or suggestions for your structured data. With errors, simply click the description to open the code explorer in the corresponding location. To see how your page might appear in Google Search Results, click Preview on Google, which will show a simple rendering of your result.
Rich results helps you to label more relevant content for your search, making it clear that each piece of text represents a certain type of data, for example, a restaurant name, address or rating. Providing this information won’t affect the appearance of your content on your own pages, but when Google crawls your site it will recognise the markup for certain information types. It will then use this information to create more useful snippets for your customers.
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