A rich snippet is an enhanced search result that displays additional information — star ratings, prices, images, availability, breadcrumbs — beyond the standard title, URL, and description.
Rich snippets are powered by structured data (typically schema.org JSON-LD) emitted on the page. Google parses the structured data and, if eligible criteria are met, displays the enhanced result. Common ecommerce rich snippets: Product (price, availability, star rating), Article (author, date, image), Recipe (rating, time), FAQ (expandable Q&A), HowTo (steps), Breadcrumb (navigation path), Event (date, location).
Eligibility requires meeting Google's documented field requirements per content type. For Product in 2026, this includes name, image, offers.price, offers.availability, aggregateRating (recommended), and the newly-required hasMerchantReturnPolicy and shippingDetails.
Rich snippets increase SERP CTR by 10–30% in competitive niches. Losing rich-snippet eligibility (typically due to schema gaps) is a common cause of organic traffic drops.