SEO Tip #86: How Long Does It Take For Rich Snippets To Appear?
Matt Cutts: That’s a good question. I didn’t know the answer so I had to ask our rich snippet team. They literally just got back to me and said not to be surprised if it takes a month or two right now. By the time you put something through the RICH Snippet testing tool, if it looks okay, do the submission form, it still might take a month or two before it starts to show up.
Now there are a couple things they mentioned; number one make sure there’s no hidden text involved because you don’t want to be trying to do RICH Snippets with something that’s hidden text. If you’ve got anything like that that can complicate things and cause you not to get rich snippets. So that’s one thing to be aware of.
The next thing to be aware of is that they are looking at improving the process. So even though if you were to do the submission right now, it might take a month or so. They are working toward a model where that delay goes away. So hopefully by the time you see this or shortly afterwards, if you mark things up correctly with RDFa and you use the Rich Snippet testing tool in the webmaster console, and everything looks pretty good we should be able to pick that up in a relatively quick timeframe.
About the Author
Andy Johnson has been on the Internet since the its dawn(ie his first computer program was recorded on cassette tape) and his first hard drive cost about as much his current MacBook. His first byline was in 1993 for a local newspaper rag he eventually helmed, and his last “real job” was at a computer start up which ended when it ended. Throughout it all he’s freelanced and blogged. Now he is mesmerized by Search Engine Optimization forever trying to “rise to the top” for the right reasons. He’s been married to his wife Julia for as long as he can remember and has two lovely, wonderful children. He looks forward to sharing the latest in the technical best for all the online entrepreneurs.