Rich Snippet and Star Ratings in Google Search
Rich snippets is the name given to rich information that is displayed in search engine results to help searchers. Below is an example of a rich snippet star rating for HelpfulCrowd on Ecwid app marketplace.
Rich snippet information compiled in a specific structured language called, structured data markup, makes it easier for search engines to more readily and easily read the code and display rich snippets in organic search results, such as product ratings.
The short answer is no.
"The bottom line- only search engines decide whether to display rich snippets in search results"
Google's sole purpose in life (other than to make money through advertising and provide lots of great free tools is to provide the most useful and meaningful search results for the relevant search query to answer the searchers question as quickly as possible in a mobile friendly environment (becoming very important) ...through billions and billions of webpages!! You can imagine what a task this is and why rich snippets for a new product may never appear in search results. And Google does this by looking at hundreds of different criteria to determine the quality of the search result.
Unfortunately there is great deal of misleading information about why rich snippets are not displayed. Some review providers even charge customers for the option of adding structured data markup to their review pages, even though they cannot guarantee any ratings will appear in search results.
At HelpfulCrowd, whilst we can't guarantee that your rich snippets will appear in search results, we do give them the best chance of being displayed by marking up every one of our customer's product review pages with structured data markup as standard, regardless of plan.
Google can only display rich snippets if it knows about the page. So the first thing to do after you've got some reviews on your site is to tell Google about your page. This is done by asking the Googlebot to crawl and index it.
Go to Google Search Console
Go to URL Inspection
View rendered page
Request render
Note: If you'd like to understand more about crawling and indexing and how Google works, you can read it here at How Google Search Works
According to Google, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
Ask Google to recrawl your URLs
How do search engines display rich snippets?
Rich snippet information compiled in a specific structured language called, structured data markup, makes it easier for search engines to more readily and easily read the code and display rich snippets in organic search results, such as product ratings.
Can HelpfulCrowd Guarantee Rich Snippets in Search Results?
The short answer is no.
"The bottom line- only search engines decide whether to display rich snippets in search results"
Google's sole purpose in life (other than to make money through advertising and provide lots of great free tools is to provide the most useful and meaningful search results for the relevant search query to answer the searchers question as quickly as possible in a mobile friendly environment (becoming very important) ...through billions and billions of webpages!! You can imagine what a task this is and why rich snippets for a new product may never appear in search results. And Google does this by looking at hundreds of different criteria to determine the quality of the search result.
Unfortunately there is great deal of misleading information about why rich snippets are not displayed. Some review providers even charge customers for the option of adding structured data markup to their review pages, even though they cannot guarantee any ratings will appear in search results.
At HelpfulCrowd, whilst we can't guarantee that your rich snippets will appear in search results, we do give them the best chance of being displayed by marking up every one of our customer's product review pages with structured data markup as standard, regardless of plan.
What you can do to increase the chances of getting review ratings and rich snippets to show
Google can only display rich snippets if it knows about the page. So the first thing to do after you've got some reviews on your site is to tell Google about your page. This is done by asking the Googlebot to crawl and index it.
1. Ask Google to crawl and index your pages
Go to Google Search Console
Go to URL Inspection
View rendered page
Request render
Note: If you'd like to understand more about crawling and indexing and how Google works, you can read it here at How Google Search Works
How long does it take for Google to crawl and index my site?
According to Google, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
Ask Google to recrawl your URLs
Updated on: 09/03/2021
Thank you!