Rich results: what Google shows, and who decides it

A rich result is a search result with extra elements, such as ratings, prices or a breadcrumb trail, that Google builds from a page's structured data. Markup makes a rich result possible, never certain: Google says it "does not guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results, even if your page is marked up correctly."

What a rich result is

Google's own definition, from its gallery of supported markup, last updated on 2026-06-15 and checked on 2026-10-12: "Google uses structured data to understand the content on the page and show that content in a richer appearance in search results, which is called a rich result."

The names vary. "Rich snippet" is the older term and is still the one people search for; "rich result" is the one Google's documentation uses now. They describe the same thing: a result that shows more than a title, an address and a description.

Which kinds exist

Google keeps a gallery of the features it supports, grouped by the kind of site they suit: ecommerce, organisations, news, jobs, food, education and others. Each feature has its own structured data type and its own required properties, documented on its own page.

A few are general. Breadcrumbs, described in the gallery as "Navigation that indicates the page's position in the site hierarchy," apply to most sites. Others, such as recipes or job postings, apply only to pages that really are those things. The gallery is the place to check what exists today, because it changes.

Who decides

Google decides, per query and per result. Its structured data policies, last updated on 2026-07-10, put it in one sentence: "Using structured data enables a feature to be present, it does not guarantee that it will be present." The gallery adds that "The actual appearance in search results might be different."

So a correct block is an entry ticket, not an outcome. A page can carry valid markup for months without the feature appearing, and the feature can appear for some queries and not for others.

Features Google has withdrawn

Google also retires features, and its documentation updates page records when. In September 2023 it removed the How-to documentation "as this rich result is no longer shown in search results," and limited FAQ results to well-known government and health websites. On May 7, 2026 it stopped showing FAQ rich results altogether, a change covered under FAQ schema.

The practical lesson is to treat any rich result as revocable. Markup for a withdrawn feature does no harm when it describes the page accurately, but it no longer changes how the result looks.

What can take a rich result away

Two things can remove a rich result that was showing: Google changing the feature, and a problem with the markup itself. The policies are specific about the second: "If your page contains a structured data issue, it can result in a manual action," and such an action "means that a page loses eligibility for appearance as a rich result; it doesn't affect how the page ranks in Google web search."

The most common issue is markup that describes something the reader cannot see. Google's introduction to structured data asks you not to "add structured data about information that is not visible to the user, even if the information is accurate." Markup that matches the visible page is the condition every feature starts from.

Keeping markup eligible

Most rich results are lost to drift rather than to a single mistake. A template changes, a field is renamed, a price moves into a script, and the markup that matched the page last month no longer does. Eligibility then fails quietly, page by page.

• Generate markup from the same data as the page

  A block filled from the same source as the visible text cannot disagree with it. A block pasted by hand will, sooner or later.

• Use the type the page actually is

  A product page marked as an article, or a listing marked as a single product, asks for properties the page does not have.

• Check after template changes, not only after launch

  The status reports catch problems across a whole site, which is where a template change shows up first.

• Keep only what you can maintain

  A smaller set of correct blocks is worth more than a large set that drifts.

How to check markup

Google offers two tools, and they answer different questions. The Rich Results Test checks a single page or code snippet and shows which features it is eligible for. The rich result status reports in Search Console show the same for every page Google has found on a verified site, including errors that appear after a template changes.

Both report eligibility. Neither predicts whether a feature will be shown, which is why a passing test and an ordinary-looking result are not a contradiction.

Where enrichment fits

AI SEO enrichment fills structured data that a page is missing: the organisation, the site, the breadcrumb and the type of page, derived from the page and the brand profile, and never altering markup somebody wrote. That makes a page eligible for the features those types support, such as breadcrumbs. Whether Google shows them remains Google's decision, as above.

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