Google Rich Results Test tool

Nowadays, a lot of sites are incorporating schema markup of all kinds, also known as structured data, in their content. As a result, Google strives to understand the content published on a page by creating tools like “Rich Results Test tool”. This helps them to better read and understand these codes, and assure that webmasters comply with the rules they set out.

However, what is structured data? It is a specific code that helps the Google search engine to not only organise, but also crawl and display your content. A rich result is displayed content that has been boosted with a specific schema (breadcrumb, corporate contact information and logos etc.) to give more useful information to the reader.

Google Rich Results Test tool is fully ready

For years, Google has been working on a powerful tool to test structured data and make sure there are no errors. One of them was the “google structured data tool” used by a lot of webmasters or SEO experts. However, the latter seemed to have some limits. Following this, the search engine came up with the “rich results test” which; until now (7/7/2020), was still placed in the basket of “beta” testing.

In fact, before the upgrade, the Rich Results Testing Tool focused more on the Rich Results; which allow information to be displayed in the SERP. It did not take into account all types of enriched results and only had tests for recipes, assignments, films etc.

Characteristics of Google Rich Results Test tool

According to the search giant Google, “the Rich Results Test entirely supports all Google search rich result features”. And it comes with many advantages:

Warns you of errors that can limit the appearance,. For example, in the case of a missing image from your schema code. The tool alerts you to the fact that while your page could still display as a rich result, there will be no image.
Shows which Search feature enhancements are effective for the markup you are providing.
Deals with loaded structured data markup more efficiently.
It provides both desktop and mobile versions of results.
It is completely aligned with search console reports.

What about the structured data test tool?

After the release of the fully ready Rich Result Test Tool, Google also announced that the old structured data test tool will be discontinued at some point in the future. The reason is that they cannot keep both tools but also because the structured data tool is not as performant as the new one.

Here is a basic comparison of a schema test ran with both tools for the same page:

Test with structured data test tool