Schema & Structured Data
Google Rich Results Test: what it does, what it costs
The only tool that tells you which Google rich results your markup can actually produce.
Google Rich Results Test at a glance
Every row is a verified field or an honest absence. A row is dropped rather than filled with an em dash, so the length of this table says how complete the record is.
| What it is | The only tool that tells you which Google rich results your markup can actually produce. |
|---|---|
| Category | Schema & Structured Data |
| Best suited for | Confirming markup will actually earn a rich result |
| Starting price | Free |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | None offered |
| Main strength | The only authoritative answer on Google rich result eligibility |
| Main limitation | One page at a time — no crawling or bulk testing |
| Evidence | Primary-source researched |
| Closest alternatives | Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Detailed SEO Extension |
| Pricing checked | 20 August 2026 |
| Record checked | 20 August 2026 |
What Google Rich Results Test is
This is the tool that answers the question schema validators cannot: not "is my markup valid" but "will Google do anything with it". It reports which Google rich results the structured data on a page can generate, and previews how they may appear in search results. Google's own documentation recommends starting here.
The distinction from generic validation is worth being precise about, because it is where most schema confusion comes from. Valid schema.org markup and eligibility for a Google rich result are two different things — you can write perfectly correct markup for a type Google does not use, or omit a property Google requires while still passing validation. This tool tests the second question and the Schema Markup Validator tests the first, and you often want both.
Two practical details. It accepts either a live URL or a pasted code snippet, so you can test markup before it ships — which is when fixing it is cheap. And it renders as either the smartphone or desktop Google Inspection Tool, so you can check that markup surviving on one does not disappear on the other, which happens more often than people expect on JavaScript-rendered pages.
What you can use it for
- Check which Google rich results a page's markup is eligible for
- Preview how a rich result may look in Google Search
- Test a code snippet before it ships to production
- Compare how markup renders to Google's smartphone and desktop crawlers
The features that matter for SEO
Each one says what it does and the SEO job it serves. A vendor feature list without that second half tells you nothing you could not read on their own site.
Rich result eligibility, not just validity
Reports which Google rich results can be generated from the page's structured data.
The whole reason to use it. Valid markup that Google ignores looks identical to valid markup that earns a rich result, until you test it here.
Rich result previews
Shows how the rich results may appear in Google Search.
Useful for the conversation with a client or stakeholder, who will understand a picture of the result far faster than a validation report.
A preview shows what may appear. Eligibility is not a guarantee of display.
URL or code snippet testing
Accepts a live URL or pasted markup.
Snippet testing means you can validate a template's markup during development rather than after deployment, which is the difference between a fix and an incident.
Smartphone and desktop rendering
Tests as the Google Inspection Tool for either smartphone or desktop.
Catches the case where markup depends on a rendering path that behaves differently by device — a real failure mode on JavaScript-heavy sites.
First-party rendering
Runs Google's own inspection tooling against the page.
No third party can tell you this. Every other schema tool is inferring Google's behaviour; this one is Google's behaviour.
Pricing and limits
Starting price: Free Checked 20 August 2026 Vendor’s own pricing page
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | A first-party Google tool with no paid tier. Rate limits are not published; it is intended for page-at-a-time testing rather than bulk validation.
|
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- The only authoritative answer on Google rich result eligibility
- Free, no account, first-party
- Tests pasted code, so markup can be checked pre-deployment
- Renders as both smartphone and desktop inspection tools
- Includes visual previews of the resulting rich results
Limitations
- One page at a time — no crawling or bulk testing
- Only tests Google features, not general schema.org correctness
- Eligibility does not guarantee a rich result will be shown
- No history, monitoring or alerting
- Rate limits are not published
Who it is for, and who should skip it
Worth it if
- Confirming markup will actually earn a rich result
- Testing schema on a template before it goes live
- Anyone implementing or debugging structured data
Skip it if
- You need to validate markup across a whole site — use a crawler
- You want generic schema.org validation without Google specifics
- You need monitoring rather than a point-in-time test
Alternatives to Google Rich Results Test
Each one answers when it is the better choice, which is the only thing a list of competitors is useful for.
- Google Search Console Choose it when you want site-wide structured data reports and error monitoring over time.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider Choose it when you need to extract and validate structured data across thousands of URLs.
- Detailed SEO Extension Choose it when you just want to see what markup a page carries, in one click.
Sources and verification
Last verified 20 August 2026 0 days ago
Pricing 20 August 2026 Plans 20 August 2026 Features 20 August 2026
- Google Search Central — test your structured data Documentation verifies features, pricing, plans checked 20 August 2026
What changed
- 20 August 2026 — "Structured Data Testing Tool" is recorded as a former name, but the history is not a clean rename. Google removed its Google-specific validation and migrated that tool to validator.schema.org as the Schema Markup Validator, while the Rich Results Test became the Google-features test. Anyone searching for the old name wants one of the two, and this listing explains which.
Questions
What is the difference between this and the Schema Markup Validator?
This tests whether Google can generate rich results from your markup. The Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org validates schema.org markup generally, without Google-specific checks. Valid markup and Google-eligible markup are not the same thing, so the two answer different questions.
What happened to the Structured Data Testing Tool?
Google removed the Google-specific validation from it and migrated it to validator.schema.org as the Schema Markup Validator. The Google-features testing lives here in the Rich Results Test instead.
If the test passes, will I get a rich result?
Not necessarily. It confirms eligibility and previews how the result may look; whether Google actually shows it depends on the query, the page's quality and Google's own discretion. Passing is necessary, not sufficient.