Everyone knows they are building websites so that they can appear on Google, and attract some traffic which in turn becomes customers that sustain their businesses.
But not everyone knows the work that goes behind the scenes to ensure the websites and their content show up on Google.
A schema markup is one of those things that are key when setting up your website. This structured data helps search engines to understand the content on your website pages, and then characterize and categorize them.
In this article, we’ll take you through how implementing schema markup on your site can impact the structure of the website and touch on SEO.
Here is what we will cover in this article:
- What is schema markup?
- Types of schemas worth adding to your content?
- How structured data can be implemented?
- SEO benefits structured data can offer?
Let's get down to business.
What is a Schema Markup?
This is a code you can add to your webpage to provide search engines with more detailed information about your content which can positively lead to improved visibility and user experience in search engine results pages (SERPS).
Some bit of history here, back in 2011, major search engines like Google and Bing collaborated with schema markup (schema.org.) to form structured data vocabulary that categorizes content into:
- Products
- Reviews
- Events
- Articles, and more.
To do this, you need to add the schema markup code that contains specific attributes and values describing content in structured data to your website’s HTML.
For example, if you have a website page about recipes, you can use recipe schema markup to provide details like instructions, ingredients, and cooking time.
Adding this structured data to your webpage helps search engines to understand your content and context effectively.
Consequently, this allows them to display rich snippets or enhanced search results, including pricing, ratings, reviews, and many more.
These rich snippets attract more attention from users and potentially increase click-through rates from the traffic sent to your site on the SERPs by search engines.
Therefore, focusing on providing search engines with more accurate and detailed information about your content can improve rankings and visibility in search results.
It is also a win-win situation as it enhances the ultimate goal for the user by delivering relevant and useful information to users rewarding them with a good overall search experience.
Let’s talk about structured data in detail below.
What is Structured Data?
Structured data also known as linked data refers to information that has been organized for better accessibility.
The implementation process for structured data involves adding markup to your web pages using encoding types such as JSON-LD or microdata.
They provide search engines with detailed context about the content on your site, making it easier for them to understand and index your pages accurately.
There are a couple of options to implement schema, however, Javascript object notation for linked data (JSON-LD) is the format that the search engine recommends.
This is because it’s easy to implement and does not require tagging HTML elements like other structured data formats.
There are different types of tools that you may use when generating schema markup.
Let’s dive into some of them
(i). Google’s structured markup helper
The structured data markup helper allows you to tag and categorize the content on your web pages using schema.org vocabulary.
The process works like this:
- You provide the Markup Helper with a URL of the page you want to enhance.
- It loads the page and you highlight and tag the relevant sections using dropdowns.
- It generates the HTML markup code you can then insert on that page.
- Google can read this markup and may decide to feature your content in search results.
Using this markup doesn't guarantee a featured snippet, but it does make your relevant content much more visible and eligible to be chosen for those prime SERP spots.
(ii). Merkles technical SEO schema generator
Merkle's schema generator is similar in concept to Google's Structured Data Markup Helper, but it's a bit more robust and full-featured.
It allows you to create and implement various types of structured data markup beyond just basic content sections.
With Merkle's tool, you can generate schema for all kinds of rich elements like:
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How-To Guides
- Reviews and Ratings
- Events and Locations
- Products and Offers
- Videos and Podcasts, and many more advanced schema types.
This structured data provides granular details that help search engines better understand and potentially feature your content.
The process is pretty straightforward:
- You select the type of schema you want to generate, fill out the relevant fields with your information, and it creates the JSON-LD markup code.
- You can then insert this code into your website.
The idea is that by precisely labeling different content elements with schema, you increase your chances of Google's systems recognizing it as a good featured snippet candidate for relevant queries.
Great, in the next section, we’ll take you through various types of schema markup that can be added to web content.
Let's do this.
Types of schemas worth adding to your web content
In this section, we’ll discuss some schema markup types you could add to your web content.
Some of the common ones include:
- Article
- Product
- Breadcrumb
- Event
- Recipe
- Local business
- Frequently asked questions(FAQS)
Let’s look at them in detail.
#1. Article
If you’re publishing articles or blog posts, article schema markup would be worth implementing.
This schema provides search engines with basic information about your content such as headline, date of publication, author’s information, images, etc.
This structured data can help Google understand and potentially feature your content for queries about a particular news story or topic.
#2. Product
For ecommerce sites, product schema markup defines details like the product name, description, price, reviews, availability, and more.
This type of schema enhances the visibility of products in search engine results, drawing more attention from potential customers.
#3. Breadcrumb
Breadcrumb markup shows Google the URL path hierarchy of your site. While not directly related to featured snippets, it does provide more context about your site structure.
Search engines like Google then use this displayed information as a breadcrumb trail in search results.
Proper breadcrumbs schema markup enhances the user experience and often results in improving click-through rates on your website.
If you run an e-commerce site, breadcrumbs will be more advantageous as they help in backtracking previous categories or product pages.
Sounds cool, right?
Next.
#4. Event
Event schema tells Google key details about an upcoming event like the name, date/time, location, offers, performers, and more.
Implementing this schema can improve the visibility and presentations of your events in search engine results pages, making it easier for users to discover and engage with them.
#5. Local business
Local business schema markup is a type of structured data that specifies details about a local business.
It includes important information such as the address, business name, phone number, website URL, and operating hours.
This can enable your listing to be prominently featured in the map pack and other local search features.
#6. Recipe
For food blogs and sites, recipe markup identifies content sections like the ingredients list, instructions, cook time, calories, and more.
This significantly increases your chances of having instructions or other recipe details featured as a rich snippet.
Some of the common areas where recipes with markup are displayed include:
- Recipe carousel: Google may display carousels with images and basic recipe information above search results.
- Rich snippets: recipes can appear as rich snippets at the top of search results. They can display information such as recipe names, images, cooking time, ratings, and reviews.
- Knowledge panel also known as knowledge graph card: recipes can be featured on the right-hand side of the search results providing users with a quick overview of the recipe and related information
Last but not least.
#7. Frequently asked questions(FAQS)
FAQS schema is a type of structured data markup used to provide detailed information about frequently asked questions and answers on a webpage.
By marking up a Frequently Asked Questions section with schema, you're explicitly telling Google what the common questions and answers are related to your topic. This makes that content a prime candidate to be pulled in as a featured snippet.
SEO Benefits of Schema Markup
Using schema markup on your website can provide several SEO benefits, including:
#1. Increased Visibility in Search Results
By implementing schema markup, you provide search engines with structured data about your content.
This makes it easier for them to understand what your pages are about and display that information in an enhanced way on the search results pages that may lead to higher click-through rates from users.
#2. Eligibility for Rich Results/Featured Snippets
One of the primary reasons to use schema is to become eligible for rich results like featured snippets, knowledge panels, carousels, and other enhanced listings.
These stand out on the SERPs and can dramatically increase your website's click-through rate from relevant searches.
#3. Better Answer Box
Matching Google's Answer Boxes frequently pulls content from pages with properly marked-up questions and answers (using FAQ schema).
Having this structured data makes it much more likely your content will be chosen to appear in these prominent Answer Boxes.
#4. Improved User Experience
Rich results don't just benefit websites - they also provide users with more useful, visual information from the search results pages before they even click through to a site. This improves the overall search experience.
#5. Increased Brand Awareness
When your listings are enhanced with rich snippets, reviews, images, etc., it helps your brand and content stand out more. This increased visibility aids in building greater brand awareness.
#6. Higher Ranking Potential
While schema markup isn't a confirmed ranking factor, Google has indicated that enriched data combined with great content can indirectly help your pages rank better for relevant queries over time.
Lastly, as search engines continue to expand and develop ways to reach more people, things like voice search continue to grow in popularity, schema markup can help you and your business with the opportunity to get in front of more users and possibly convert them into customers.
Final Thoughts
That’s a wrap. Up to this point, we’ve sufficiently answered the question of this article about the potential impact of schema markup on website structure and SEO.
The benefits are enormous and it opens up lots of opportunities to grow your business online, get ahead of competitors, and gain more benefits that your business is interested in.
Do yourself a favor, and implement a schema markup to your site each time you feel it is relevant.
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