WordPress is used by millions of websites and blogs for its unique and attractive features. Although most of the features are well utilized by the administrators, one area that has not yet gained proper attention from developers is the rich snippets feature of WordPress.
Under the rich snippet WordPress tool, WordPress allows the webmasters to add an extra bit of information that assists in boosting the ranking and appearance of the site on the search engine results page (SERP). The tool provides a backbone in improving the traffic to a website by raising it above the competition (also, check the best WordPress Countdown plugin).
In the following, we have listed some of these tools and introduce how to add rich snippets to WordPress built websites.
Best Rich Snippets(Schema.org) WordPress plugins
As Google doesn’t extract the rich snippets directly from the content, the webmaster needs to add this information manually. However, the availability of tons of rich snippets WordPress plugins makes it possible for the administrators to take advantage of rich snippets without spending much time on it. There are tremendous numbers of rich snippets plugins to assist the websites running on WordPress, and some of the most effective ones are discussed here (also, you can try the best WordPress Pricing table plugin).
Kk Star Ratings
Kk Star Ratings is a plugin that adds stars in the posts, pages and comments on a website running on WordPress. The plugin renders a simplified layout to the readers with some eye-soothing effects and animations. The star rating bar can be customized by the webmasters on every page or posts on the website. The amount of stars can be modified as per the preferences of the site owner. Note that the default frequency of stars is 5.
WP Customer Reviews
WP Customer Reviews is an imperative plugin for WordPress sites because it allows the visitors to write a review about the services of the website. All the reviews provided by the readers are stored in the micro-format that becomes a part of rich snippets. Although anyone can leave a review, the reviews can be moderated by the owners of the website. Also, the plugin includes an effective tool that prevents spam (also, check this useful post – WordPress robots.txt).
Rich Contact Widget
Rich Contact Widget is one of the most powerful and effective plugins for WordPress sites, adding the contact information of the firm under the website name in the search engine results page effectively. It provides the assistance in the local SEO of the website by adding a map of the firm’s principal store. The presence of contact information allows the visitors to take advantage of an advanced feature, i.e. the visitor can call and mail the company.
AuthorSure
It is a plugin for WordPress that makes it easier for the webmaster to add Google Authorship on the result page of the search engines. Compatible with WordPress versions higher than 3.0, AuthorSure performs well on single and multiple author sites. It creates a link from the website to the administrator’s profile on leading social networking sites such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Skype. The administrator can also control the availability of Google Authorship in the custom post types.
Rating Widget
One of the most popular tools that are appreciated by millions of users is the Rating-widget. Facilitating star rating system on a WordPress site, this plugin allows the webmasters to create and manage the ratings on the pages, posts and comments. Being a highly responsive tool, one can use the tool to collect unlimited votes from various browsers (also, check The 50 Best WordPress Plugins list).
Adding Rich Snippets in WordPress
When it comes to adding rich snippets on a website running on the leading website platform WordPress, the procedure is very simple by means of plugins. In this step-by-step demonstration of adding rich snippets, the Rich Contact Widget plugin is being taken as a sample of rich snippets WordPress tool.
The procedure of adding rich snippets in a WordPress site starts with the download of a specific file. Hence, the webmaster should download the Rich Contact Widget plugin from WordPress.org and upload it to the plugins section of the WordPress site.
add rich snippet wordpressNext, the administrator should go to the Plugins menu available in the Appearance tab of WordPress dashboard and activate the uploaded plugin. Now, it is needed to visit the Widgets sub-section in order to add the Rich Contact Widget in a suitable sidebar. The completion of this step technically finishes the procedure of adding the rich snippets plugin on the WordPress site (you can check the – Best WordPress eCommerce plugins list).
However, there are several things that require to be configured in the Rich Contact Widget plugin after its activation. It primarily comprises of the available fields that are to be filled up with relevant contact information. After filling up all necessary information, the webmaster can successfully add this rich snippets plugin by clicking on the Save button.
Summary
As administrators and practicing developers are becoming aware of the rich snippets tools and benefits, the plugins that facilitate rich snippets are being installed in increased number of WordPress sites. Being a powerful tool that provides assistance to the websites in improving its performance on the SERP, the rich snippets tools are gaining attention of the modern administrators and developers (also, check this comparison post – WP Super Cache VS W3 Total Cache).