Short answer: The Rich Results Test is a Google tool that shows which rich result types it finds on a page and any errors or suggestions in its structured data. You can test a published URL or paste code, and the test reads the page as Google-InspectionTool, with the smartphone user agent by default.
What the test checks
| Part of the result | What it tells you | If something is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| URL status | How many valid items, items with warnings or invalid items it found | Open each item to see the issue |
| Crawl | Whether Google could crawl and fetch the page, and as smartphone or desktop | Check robots.txt, noindex and server errors |
| Detected items | Every structured data item it found, including ones it couldn’t parse | Fix errors first, then warnings |
| Page resources | Images, CSS or scripts the test couldn’t load | Unblock important ones to Google-InspectionTool |
From Search Console Help, “Rich Results Test”, read November 3, 2026.
The test reads JSON-LD, RDFa and Microdata. If Google can’t crawl the page in its regular crawl, for example because of a robots.txt rule or a noindex directive, the URL can’t be tested. You can still paste the code.
A valid test isn’t a promise
Valid structured data makes a page eligible for rich results. Google says it doesn’t guarantee that your page will appear as the test’s preview shows, because it picks the best result for each search.
Some features also change over time. The FAQ rich result no longer appears in Google Search, from May 7, 2026. Since January 2025, breadcrumbs appear only in desktop results, because they get cut short on small screens.
Search Console’s rich result reports show a sample of detected items, not all of them. For any URL missing from a report, Google points to the URL Inspection tool.
How to test a page with the Rich Results Test
- Open the Rich Results Test and paste the full URL, or choose Code and paste your markup.
- Keep the smartphone user agent, the default, unless you need the desktop view.
- Read the URL status line: valid items, items with warnings or invalid items.
- If the crawl failed, check robots.txt, noindex and the error the test names.
- Open each item with errors and fix the markup on your page.
- Run the test again until every item you need is valid.
- Once Google recrawls the page, inspect the URL in Search Console to see what it indexed.
Our guides to structured data, breadcrumbs and the URL Inspection tool go deeper into steps 5 and 7.
What Google shows for our own pages
At 7:35 AM on November 3 we inspected 20 of our pages with the URL Inspection API, which reports the rich results Google found in its indexed copy. 19 were indexed; one guide published that night wasn’t known to Google yet.
17 pages passed, all with a single rich result type: breadcrumbs, one item each and no issues. Our two home pages had none, since they have no breadcrumb trail.
Our pages send more than breadcrumbs. Of the 316 pages in our sitemap, 290 carry FAQPage markup and 182 carry Article markup. The inspection lists none of the FAQ or Article items, only breadcrumbs. For the FAQ items there is nothing left to show: Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on May 7, 2026.
Before you publish structured data
- The Rich Results Test reads the page without errors.
- Every item you need shows as valid.
- Robots.txt and noindex don’t block the page.
- No comments are left inside the JSON-LD.
- Important resources load for anonymous visitors and Google-InspectionTool.
- You don’t count on a feature Google no longer shows.
RememberThe Rich Results Test tells you whether Google can read your markup, not whether it will show a rich result. Fix errors, keep the markup true to the page and check what Google indexed in the URL Inspection tool.
If you want us to check the structured data on your site, see our technical SEO service.
Quick answers about the Rich Results Test
Can I test a page before it goes live?
Yes. Choose Code instead of URL and paste the page’s HTML or just the structured data, then run the test as often as you like. For a page on your own computer, Google suggests exposing it through a tunnel.
Why does the test say the URL cannot be crawled?
The test reads the page as Google-InspectionTool, without your login. A robots.txt rule or a noindex directive can block it, and so can DNS, server or SSL certificate errors, which the test names one by one.
Why don’t my FAQ answers show as a rich result anymore?
Google stopped showing the FAQ rich result in Search from May 7, 2026, and later removed its documentation. FAQ markup can stay on your pages, but it won’t bring that result back.
Does a valid result mean Google will show a rich result?
No. Valid structured data makes a page eligible for rich results. Google says it doesn’t guarantee that your page will appear as the preview shows, because it picks the best result for each search.
Which structured data formats does the test read?
JSON-LD, RDFa and Microdata. The tool ignores comments inside JSON-LD, but the JSON-LD standard doesn’t support them, so Google asks you to remove them before you publish.
Sources
Read on November 3, 2026. Search Console Help: Rich Results Test and Rich result report overview. Google Search Central: Latest documentation updates. Our own case: the URL Inspection API on 20 of our pages and the structured data of our sitemap pages, November 3, 2026.