Structured Data For Website
What is structured data for SEO?
There is a common method for categorizing the content of your website: structured data, also known as schema markup. You may think of it as giving search engines like Google, Bing, and other search engine a comprehensive roadmap of the content on your page. Search engines can comprehend the meaning and context of text rather than merely viewing it in its raw form.
How does Google use structured data for SEO?
A search engine like Google uses structured data snippets and data labels that appear in your page’s HTML code to deliver this information.
Example 1: – The below is a snapshot of one of our clients for whom we have implemented the rating scheme, thus, the listing shows star ratings.
Example 2: – The below is a screenshot of the listing of one of our clients for
which Google crawls the pricing, delivery details and site links via our scheme code.
These additional details about your page allow Google to tweak how search results appear in the search engine result pages (SERPs). With structured data for Google, you can offer users more value when they search on Google.
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Which structured data may result in a rich snippet?
Google supports various types of schema markups that may appear as an enhanced search results.
Here is a list of currently supported items that can be marked up as structured data and appear as a rich result in the SERP:
Keep in mind though, that schema.org contains much more items that can be marked up to provide more information about your content – even if it does not result in the rich snippet.
Note: If you would like to explore the rich results for the most popular search engines, be sure to check out:
- Google search gallery
- Yandex markup services
- Microsoft Bing scenarios
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Why does structured data for SEO matter?
When it comes to SEO, you want to improve your visibility in search results. Having your website on the second, third, or fourth page of search results is not fruitful. Not to mention, 75% of users keep to the first page of search results.
Structured data for Google can help your website provide a better user experience for a few reasons.
1. You give Google a complete blueprint of your page
This blueprint helps Google understand your page with complete clarity. That level of understanding makes it easy for Google to determine whether your page offers value to users, which can help it rank better in search results.
2. You provide users with a useful preview of your page
A rating structured snippet, for example, can send valuable trust signals about your products or services. All this information can motivate a user to click on your website.
Example: 1
Example: 2
The above is a snapshot of the Google listing for one of our clients. The multiple images structured data helps increase conversion rates.
How to Implement structured data to the website?
Implementation of structured data is not a rocket since, although it requires a little bit of practice and some logical thinking.
Keep in mind that the primary purpose of structured data is to help search engines better understand what the page is about and how it could be useful to the users and not only for the sake of rich results.
Here are the best practices that you should keep in mind:
- Use the most specific, applicable types and properties possible
- Prioritize pages that are already ranking high in search results (to increase the likelihood that they will appear as rich results)
- Supply fewer but complete and accurate properties rather than vague and badly-formed data that would not help search engines in any way
- Use JSON-LD format (if possible)
Note: If you are completely new to the world of structured data, try Google Codelab and its short tutorial to learn how structured data works.
Is structured data a ranking signal?
“Google does not use structured data as a ranking factor.”
Structured data won’t raise a page’s ranking in search results, even though it can increase visibility in the SERP and the page’s click-through rate.
The only thing structured data can do is make your sites appear in more pertinent search results.
Alternatively put: https://twitter.com/JohnMu/status/980902538865205248
You must first “speak” in the language of search engines, known as schema markup, in order to develop and use structured data – which is called schema markup.
Why does the webpage not appear as a rich result?
Implementation of structured data to your pages does not guarantee that they will be displayed as a rich result.
Schema markup can indicate that its content might be relevant and useful to the users but it is up to the search engine to decide whether it will be used as an enhanced snippet in the SERP.
Numerous factors, including the website’s authority and credibility, history, geography, etc., are taken into consideration by search engines like Google and can affect whether or not the rich results will show up.
“…it can happen that we show a lot of these rich results for your website. And maybe we’ll scale them back over time, maybe we’ll scale that up again over time. It can also happen that we turn them off completely” (John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst)
Although you cannot directly control the appearance of structured data in the search results, some situations can prevent Google from using your schema markups:
- Misleading structured data – when the content in your schema markup does not represent the actual content on the page.
- Incorrect implementation – structured data are not set up properly for the search engines to be able to understand and use it in the form or rich result.
- Hidden content – the content of the structured data is not present on the page or is hidden from the users.
- Violation of guidelines – structured data does not meet the official Google guidelines.
Note: Even if structured data is implemented correctly, Google disregards it for homepages.
How to create schema markups(Structured Data) for your pages
1. Generate markup: When it comes to creating structured data, there are a few options that you can use.
– Write the script manually: Schema.org might serve as a source of inspiration for your script. Making your own schema gives you the most flexibility because you can mark up anything you want and produce the most intricate structured data with lots of information for search engines, even though it does require some coding knowledge.
– Use markup generators: You can get structured data automatically from a variety of online markup generators. Among the most often used markup generators are
- Google Structured Data Markup Helper – it helps you markup pieces of content directly on the webpage. Simply start tagging all the important information on the page, assign them to the proper labels, generate the script (JSON-LD or Microdata), and select Download.
- Google Data Highlighter – an online tool in Google Search Console that can help you highlight and tag data (names, dates, locations, etc.) that are important for the rich result across your whole site.
- Schema Markup Generator (JSON-LD) by Merkle – an online tool that can help you with generating schema markup for your pages. Simply add all required information to the generator and copy the final version of structured data for your content.
– Use schema plugins: Schema plugins are another great way for creating structured data on your website.
Here are a few popular schema plugins for WordPress:
- Yoast SEO – a simple plugin that uses JSON-LD format for schema markup. You can add various structured data to your pages such as site name, images, logo, profiles, etc.
- Yoast WooCommerce SEO – another popular plugin from Yoast that is focused on e-commerce websites. It can add important structured data for all your product pages in order to be eligible for rich results such as prices, reviews, etc.
- Schema App – Advanced plugin for structured data in WordPress that has also a paid version. It provides a lot of great schema markups that can be used for rich results.
2. Test your structured data: Before putting your schema markups on your website, you should always test them.
In addition to verifying that there are no mistakes, it is crucial to evaluate how the structured data will appear as a rich result.
Before releasing your scripts, you can verify them with a few testing tools.
Rich Result Test – Google’s official tool for evaluating structured data. This tool allows you to see what rich results your schema markups can provide and how a snippet of it might appear.
You can either copy and paste the URL to test schema markups on the specified page or insert just the script to test it independently.
Example
Schema Markup Validator – All forms of structured data from schema.org can be validated by another Google tool (formerly called the Structured Data Testing Tool), not just the ones that would be utilized as rich results. Like the Rich Result Test tool, you may check for mistakes in your structured data markup by copying and pasting the URL or a sample of code.
Example
3. Implement Structured data to your website: If you are using a CMS or plugin that supports structured data, like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, you don’t need to do anything; the tools will take care of that for you.
- Add the scripts manually – Simply copy and paste the code snippets into the or of your HTML if you made schema markups in JSON-LD format.
Use Google Tag Manager – this platform can help you set up structured data for your pages without inserting them into the code
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Structured data cannot be ignored by businesses hoping to generate leads, revenue, website keywords ranking, and visitors from their website. Your company can use it to optimize your website for both users and search engines. Your organic traffic statistics and search engine rankings can both be enhanced by that extra optimization.
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