Google combined the naming structure for the rich snippets, rich cards, and enriched results and will now call all such results “Rich Results.” Here is a short primer on everything an SEO should know about these Rich Snippets:
How does Google obtain rich results?
If you want the data from your site in the rich results, you will need to enable some form of structured data to the search engine spiders. There is no guarantee that the data from your site will show as a rich result, although doing so increases the likelihood. WordPress users only need to install a plugin to enable schema.org structures for their site data.
What is the preferred format?
The reason sites like Google insist on using structured data for displaying these results is because they allow a site to provide structure to spiders while keeping the display of the data the same for users. Google supports JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa, but prefers JSON-LD.
Will I rank better?
The markup or even appearing in the rich results will not change your ranking for other terms or even the term that appears on the page. Google shows relevant rich results for the search from any of the top 10 results on the page.
How do I know if it will work?
Any webmaster can use the testing tool by Google to check if the structured markup is correct. Here is an excerpt from the Google Webmaster blog:
“The new tool provides a more accurate reflection of the page’s appearance on Search and includes improved handling for Structured Data found on dynamically loaded content. The tests for Recipes, Jobs, Movies, and Courses are currently supported — but this is just a first step, we plan on expanding over time.”