Google introduces Rich Results Test tool

On new year's eve, Google launched its Rich Results Tool, which aims to help advertisers and agencies test that their page content is properly set up to be extracted by Google and displayed in 'rich snippets' and 'rich cards' on Google's search-results pages.

The use of the word "rich" here refers to types of structured data that can be shown to the user as results that appear right below keyword ads, often as an extract of a website's content.

In passing the requirements and qualifying for a rich snippet feature, advertisers and agencies can drive larger volumes of traffic to their websites, with greater authority.

At present, the tool can test for structured data sources such as JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. Websites that follow Google's guidelines are better understood by its crawler, and in turn, the markup on a website is then republished as a feature in search results.

The tool also flags problems with page markup that prevent the rich snippets from being displayed. 

The most common content types understood by Google for inclusion in rich snippet features are recipes, jobs, movies, and courses, with support for additional data types to be released gradually.

Like any Google tool, the Rich Results Tool relies on the user to insert a URL for analysis and review. Any invalid code will be prominently highlighted, along with suggestions on how to correct the problem. Advertisers would benefit the most by cross verifying the fixes with Page Insights, another free Google tool for checking the health of a website for mobile and desktop optimization.