GlossarySEO
What are rich results?
Also called: rich snippets, rich result, Rich Results Test
Definition
Rich results are search listings with extra visual features beyond the title, URL and snippet, like review stars, prices, breadcrumbs or video thumbnails. Most depend on structured data.
Rich results, explained
Google's visual elements gallery describes a rich result as a result with graphical or interactive elements drawn from structured data. Examples include review stars and ratings, product prices and availability, recipe details, event dates, breadcrumb trails and video thumbnails with key moments. Each type is documented separately with the properties it requires.
Structured data makes a page eligible, never guaranteed. Google's general structured data guidelines say that even correctly marked-up pages may not get rich results, and that markup must represent the visible content, be complete for the feature and not be misleading. Violations can lead to a manual action that removes rich result eligibility.
The list of supported features keeps shrinking. In August 2023, Google stopped showing HowTo rich results and limited FAQ rich results to authoritative government and health sites. In late 2024 it retired the sitelinks search box. In September 2025 it removed documentation for types such as course info, estimated salary, learning video, special announcement and vehicle listing, and its documentation updates say FAQ rich results stopped appearing in Search from May 7, 2026. Before building markup for a feature, check that it's still on Google's current structured data gallery. For software products, the features most worth checking are software app ratings, breadcrumbs, organization logos and article details.
Test with Google's Rich Results Test, then watch Search Console's enhancement reports and the Performance report's search appearance filter to see whether rich results are showing and how they perform.
Why it matters for founders
Rich results take up more space and can make your listing stand out. But chasing retired features wastes time, so focus on types that still show for your kind of page.
Example
Your app page adds SoftwareApplication markup with real ratings from reviews shown on the page. The Rich Results Test shows it's eligible, and weeks later some results show star ratings.
Common mistakes
- Expecting valid markup to guarantee a rich result.
- Building markup for retired features like HowTo.
- Marking up reviews or ratings that aren't visible on the page.
- Never checking the search appearance filter in Search Console.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Visual elements gallery of Google Search
- Google Search Central: General structured data guidelines
- Google Search Central Blog: Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results (Aug 2023)
- Google Search Central: Latest Google Search documentation updates
Checked
Related terms
- Structured data (JSON-LD)Structured data is machine-readable information about a page, usually written as JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary. It helps search engines understand what a page is about and can make it eligible for rich results.
- Schema.orgSchema.org is a shared vocabulary of types and properties, like
Organization,ProductandArticle, that websites use in structured data to describe their content to search engines and other machines. - SERP featuresSERP features are anything on a search results page beyond the standard blue-link result: AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask, sitelinks, image and video packs, knowledge panels and rich results.
- Review snippetA review snippet is the star rating and review count Google can show under a search result, based on
RevieworAggregateRatingstructured data for supported types like products, software apps and recipes.