Are you looking for a higher organic click-through-rate (CTR) on your website? If you re using WordPress, an easy way to do that is by installing rich snippet schema plugins.
When you have the right schema plugin installed, your website will stand out much more in rich, data-packed search results compared to those of other sites. As a result, your site will more easily catch people’s attention and more visits will follow. Getting higher CTR's should be one of the target in your overall SEO plan.
The additional data displayed in your company’s search results via these plugins will depend on what kind of product your site is advertising. For example, if you post about upcoming events, you can include info such as date and location in the schema.
If your website is filled with recipes, you can add visual elements such as images of the prepared dish, data points like the preparation time, or a nutritional information table. These things can further entice potential customers to click through to your site.
If your potential customer sees some extra info such as this, they might also feel like your site is more trustworthy and informative, which naturally leads to a higher CTR.
Before purchasing a schema plugin, there are two important things you need to consider:
1. What’s your budget?
Some of these plugins are free, some have a free trial version with an option to upgrade to pro, and some require purchase right from the get-go. What you get all depends on how much you’re willing to spend to get a higher CTR for your site.
2. How much info do you want displayed?
This depends on what kind of product(s) you’re reviewing. Do you want a star system? Do you want the stars to be changed into other icons? Do you want dates/times displayed as well? Think about how customizable you want your site to be.
Now let’s look at five different rich snippet schema plug-in options and how they may help your website:
Schema Pro
Schema Pro is a simple, straightforward way to add rich snippets to your search results. If you’re a beginner with virtually no knowledge of which schema plugin to pick, this might be the right one for you.
With Schema Pro, you can create your markup in just three steps: select a schema type (review, recipe, article, etc.), choose which pages/posts to target, and pick which fields into which you want to integrate the code. Voila, you’re good to go!
Schema Pro comes with JSON-LD, which means you won’t have to do any manual coding if you install this plugin, which is another reason it is great for beginners. Because of that simplicity, you can focus your efforts on other aspects of your site.
Schema Pro costs either $79 for a year subscription or a $249 for a lifetime subscription. You’ll get a few more features with the lifetime bundle, so if your heart is set on Schema Pro, I recommend the one-time investment.
It doesn’t come with a free or trial version, so unfortunately there is no way to “try before you buy.” You may be reluctant to try it out if you’re new to this whole thing, but $79 a year is a pretty good price, and it’s very easy to install and learn how to use.
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WP Review Pro
As its name implies, this schema plugin is tailored specifically toward reviews. It offers many customization options, even within its 16 different pre-made templates.
Not all reviews are created equal, and WP Review Pro takes that into account. The tool has different rating systems to fit whatever product you’re reviewing. It has star, point, and percentage systems, as well as thumbs-up and circle ratings for pro users.
Several features are exclusively available through this Pro version. One such feature allows users to rate products your company has reviewed. They can leave comments and mark whether other’s customer comments are helpful.
Another great feature of WP Review Pro is its ability to integrate reviews from other sites. Google Places, Yelp, and Facebook reviews can all be imported directly to your website with this plugin.
As if that weren’t enough, you can also create tables to compare the features of multiple products at once. This will help your customers to make more informed buying decisions by easily seeing which product best fits their needs.
If you’re looking for a wholly customizable plugin for your review site, you can’t go wrong with WP Review Pro. You can either get the free version, a $19 per month membership, or a $67 annual premium membership, which comes with the greatest number of features.
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WP Product Review
This is another plugin designed for reviews, so if WP Review Pro didn’t speak to you, you might consider WP Product Review. It has a lot of features the previous plugin lacks.
For example, you can use shortcodes (which don’t actually require any coding) to position your review anywhere in your post.
If you feel your star rating deserves to be at the top, the bottom, or even smack dab in the middle, WP Product Review has got you covered with flexible display options.
Its review tables are more customizable than those of WP Review Pro, which will allow you to match its borders, colors, and width to the theme of your website. The rating icons can be changed from stars to more than ten different icons, too.
You can create comparison tables as well. This plugin can import product info from Amazon, as well as reviews from other sites. It will also allow your customers to leave their own reviews, which will look more organic and trustworthy to other customers.
This plugin is a bit on the pricier side if you choose to upgrade from the free version. You can buy a $59, $149, or $299 annual plan. Each tier provides access to more features.
The top two tiers allow you to manage several sites at once, but if you’re only managing one site, the $59 option is your best bet.
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All in One Schema
If you’re looking to display rich snippets at the low, low price of $0, All in One Schema is the way to go. If you’re a beginner when it comes to rich snippets, installing this tool is a great place to start learning.
All in One Schema is easy to set up and has a minimalist theme that won’t detract attention from the rest of your website.
However, some might find the minimalist theme unsatisfactory and wish to branch out into other theme options to help customize their website. If that’s the case, I would recommend installing another schema plugin from this recommendation list.
If your site is all about no-nonsense, straight up information, this plugin is for you. Your information will be presented in a short, sweet, and to the point manner. However, if your site is flashy and has more complex info to display, pick a different plugin.
All in all, this is a great starter rich snippets schema. It’s a great way to gain an understanding of how they work. You might decide to upgrade to a paid one with more design options eventually, or maybe this one will fulfill all your needs and you’ll stick with it.
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SNIP: Rich Snippets & Structured Data Plugin
SNIP offers one thing more completely than all these other plugins: variety. It supports more than 800 different schema types. Yes, you read that right. Basically, just think of a possible schema type, and SNIP probably supports it.
Another feature that differentiates it from the rest is global snippets. With global snippets, you can create one schema that can be automatically applied to all pages and posts. You can even customize which schema is applied to which page or post and when.
It’s easy to learn how to use this program, so it’s perfect for beginners. Even though the number of possible schemas might sound overwhelming, you can easily find which one will suit you.
Even if you’re new to the whole idea of structured data, or just need a refresher, the creator of SNIP has a tutorial video course on his website that will give you all the info you need.
SNIP is flexible, easy to use, and offers support for nearly any schema you need, no matter what you’re using your site for. At $92, SNIP is practically a steal.
You would think something with so many options would cost more, but nope. In my opinion, it’s more than worth the cost. It’s hard to think of many cons for this one.
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Decision Time
As you can see, there are a lot of benefits to using rich snippet schema plugins for your WordPress site, no matter which one you choose.
The main difference between all these plugins is how the information is displayed on your page. Since the appearance of your site is completely up to you, which plugin you use is also your choice. It really depends on what kind of site you run.
Your end goal should be to create eye-catching search results. If you have images, star ratings, date/time, etc. on your search results, people will assume your site is more credible and can better satisfy their buying needs, which will naturally lead to a higher CTR.
In my humble opinion, you really can’t go wrong with any of these plugins. Again, which one you choose mainly depends on your budget, what kind of site you have, and what kind of products or reviews you want to display.
Schema Pro, All in One Snippets, and SNIP would be perfect if you’re a beginner with no prior knowledge of rich snippets. However, if you already have some experience, you might want to try out others with features that might work better for your site.
WP Product Review and WP Review Pro are perfect if your site focuses primarily on reviews. With either one of these installed, people will see your star or point system displayed clearly on their search results and be enticed to click your link to read the full review.
Ultimately, whichever plugin you choose is up to you. I hope this piece helps you make that choice and find the perfect plugin for you and your website!
