From links to rich snippets: Mia’s journey to eye-catching search listings

When Mia realised her bakery’s website was a mere whisper among the roar of Google results, she remembered a tip from our last article on Google rich results revealed: rich snippets. Those glossy previews—star ratings under product listings, FAQs mid-page, recipe cards with mouthwatering photos—were the difference between being overlooked and standing out. Determined to turn her humble “Cinnamon Swirl” page into a magnet for hungry searchers, Mia embarked on a hands-on adventure: transforming plain links into mini storefronts that invite clicks.

Spotting the opportunity

It began over a slow morning coffee. Mia skimmed her analytics and sighed: her beautiful site attracted visitors, but few stayed. Then she saw it—the familiar photo of her signature roll, complete with ★★★★☆, atop a search page. A recipe card. “That could be me,” she thought. Armed with a warm smile and no coding background, Mia set out to learn how to whisper the right cues to Google.

A friendly first step: copying a code snippet

Rather than wrestle with complex code, Mia took the simplest route: she copied a single JSON-LD snippet for her FAQ page. Pasting it into the header of her site (using the “Code Injection” feature in her Squarespace settings), she effectively told Google, “This section answers the question — how long do rolls stay fresh ?” Within days, her FAQ began appearing as a neat question-and-answer box right in search results, giving readers an instant taste of her expertise.

Quick example Mia used:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How long do your cinnamon rolls stay fresh?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"They stay fresh for three days in an airtight container."}}]}
</script>

It felt like planting a signpost on the digital highway: “Turn here for fresh-baked goodness.”

Weaving in story-friendly schema

Next, Mia tackled reviews. She had dozens of delighted customers tweeting about her vanilla-bean loaf. Instead of burying those testimonials, she framed one in a tiny block of markup that Google could understand:

Ava’s five-star review became a digital badge of honour.

With that schema in place, her product page earned a star rating directly beneath the link, sparking curiosity and trust. Mia didn’t think of it as code—she saw it as storytelling: “Ella says our loaf is ‘moist and aromatic’,” she wrote in her editor, then wrapped it in the review snippet. When Google picked it up, searchers saw Ava’s words before clicking, making them feel confident in their choice.

From recipes to how-tos: showing every delicious step

Mia’s blog section, where she shared tips for perfect frosting swirls, was full of helpful advice—but it lived in paragraphs. To let Google display each step as a quick “how-to” snippet, she simply converted her numbered list into a HowTo schema. Now, anyone searching “how to frost cupcakes” saw her four concise steps right in the results:

1. Mix butter and sugar.
2. Add vanilla and cream cheese.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

In her mind, Mia likened it to giving Google the storyboard for her tutorial—each frame clearly labelled.

Guiding advanced AI with llms.txt

As a final flourish, Mia created an llms.txt file—the AI cousin of robots.txt—at her site’s root. By allowing only her rich-results pages and disallowing archived posts, she ensured chatbots and AI assistants referenced the freshest, most relevant content. It was a tiny text file with a big impact, quietly steering the digital conversation toward her best work.

Verifying her success

With her schema in place, Mia ran Google’s Rich Results Test on each page. Green checkmarks confirmed that Google understood her snippets, and within weeks, she saw higher click-through rates and more time spent on site. In Search Console, the “Enhancements” report lit up with recipe cards, FAQ panels and review stars—proof that her story was being told in the most visible way possible.

Mia’s journey from plain links to dynamic rich snippets shows that you don’t need a developer’s toolkit to shine on Google. A handful of copy-and-paste snippets, clear content structure and an llms.txt guide are all it takes to transform your search presence. In the next and final part of our series, we’ll explore how to track these rich results in Search Console and refine your strategy for even greater growth. Until then, test your site’s readiness with our free Glafos audit at glafos.com and watch your shop window light up on the high street of search.




Photo by Mink Mingle