Schema markup might be one of the most important SEO strategies your business is overlooking.
This article explains how schema markup helps organize web page data in a way that makes it easier for search engines to understand, leading to SEO benefits for the website. It covers methods for adding schema to web content and how to track its impact using an SEO tool. Lastly, it outlines a simple four-step process to make schema markup a regular part of a content marketer’s routine.
An Overview of Structured Data
Structured data is a type of website code that explains the purpose of a webpage’s content to search engines. This makes it easier for search engines to deliver the content to the right users with the appropriate display features.
Search engines rely heavily on structured data to confidently showcase content in special formats. As a result, Google adjusts how it presents this content for enhanced search results.
Process Behind Structured Data
Structured data explains the purpose and details of specific parts of a webpage’s content. When search engines find structured data in the page’s code, they can adjust how they use and display the content. However, structured data doesn’t change how the page appears to visitors.
The language for structured data comes from a set of microdata terms called schema markup. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! can read schema markup and use the content in specific ways based on its instructions.
JSON-LD Schema
JSON-LD is the most widely used format for schema markup supported by Google Search. The key takeaway is that JSON-LD is Google’s preferred format for structured data. This is likely the format you’ll use to improve your SEO.
If you’re interested, other structured data formats supported by Google Search include Microdata and RDFa.
Improving SEO Through Schema Markup
Schema markup offers strong benefits for SEO.
According to Searchmetrics, 36.6% of search results include at least one featured snippet, often derived from schema markup. Different from rich snippets, these are the “0-ranking” featured snippets that appear at the top of search results.
Despite this, only a small percentage of websites use schema markup regularly, with some estimates as low as 0.3%.
This means schema markup presents a major opportunity to boost your content’s position in search rankings, with few webmasters currently taking advantage of it.
Searchmetrics also found that webpages using schema rank about four positions higher on average than those that don’t.
Process of Adding Schema Markup to a Webpage
There are two main ways to add schema markup to web content.
For developers, or those with access to technical skills, schema markup can be added manually by editing the source code of a webpage. This method provides precise control over the schema but might not be the quickest option.
Google offers detailed guides on creating schema webpage markup for different types of content.
For those without coding skills, using a schema markup tool is a more efficient choice. One useful tool is Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, which helps create schema for content like articles, events, movies, restaurants, product reviews, job postings, and more.
To use Structured Data Markup Helper:
- Go to the Structured Data Markup Helper webpage.
- Select the ‘Website’ tab.
- Choose the data type you’re working with, such as ‘Article,’ ‘Product,’ or ‘Local businesses.’
- Enter your webpage URL and click ‘Start tagging.’
- Your webpage will appear on-screen, and you can start adding tags to specific content elements by selecting ‘Add missing tags.’ When you’re done, the tool will generate updated HTML that includes the schema markup alongside your existing code.
To apply the changes, you can either update the HTML yourself through your CMS or ask your development team to do it.
Using Plugins to Automate Schema Creation
Adding schema to a webpage can be made easier by using a schema markup plugin for your content management system (CMS). This plugin allows you to add schema webpage markup directly while creating and managing content on your website.
The available plugins will depend on the CMS you use.
For WordPress, the highly-rated plugin is Schema by Hesham. This plugin adds JSON-LD structured data to your content within the WordPress dashboard, which can be more efficient than using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper. You can find other schema markup plugins for WordPress listed here.
Most popular CMS platforms offer schema plugins. For example, Craft CMS users might find Schema by Rias useful. To find plugins for your specific CMS, search for “[your CMS] + schema markup plugin.”
Schema Markup Tester to Validate Your Work
It’s a good idea to test your schema markup before putting it into use.
The Google Structured Data Testing Tool is highly recommended. It’s free, user-friendly, and designed specifically with Google in mind, making it ideal for most businesses.
You can use this tool to check either new schema in your webpage code or to test existing structured data on published web pages. Simply choose ‘Fetch URL’ or ‘Code snippet’ depending on what you need when you visit the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.
Technical Elements of Schema Markup
For those interested in the technical details of schema markup, the following sections will provide relevant information. If not, it’s best to skip to the conclusion.
In HTML, content is divided into sections using the <div> and </div> tags. The <div> tag marks the beginning of a section, and the </div> tag marks the end.
To signal to search engines that a section contains specific content they should recognize, the itemscope element is added to the opening <div> tag, like this:
<div itemscope>
Next, an itemtype attribute is added right after the itemscope element. This attribute specifies the type of content being described.
There are more than 600 types of content available, as listed in schema.org’s documentation. The itemtype is added as a URL linking back to schema.org. For example, if the content is about a ‘Product,’ it would look like this:
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Product”>
Each schema type comes with a unique set of properties. For instance, ‘Film’ type content includes properties like actor, director, duration, and doorTime, while ‘Recipe’ type content has properties such as cookTime, nutrition, and recipeInstructions.
To fully describe the items within a section, specific properties should be added using itemprop attributes. This helps search engines understand and use the information.
Here is an example of HTML for ‘Movie’ type content, using itemprop attributes:
<div itemscope itemtype =”http://schema.org/Movie”>
<h1 itemprop=”name”>Inception</h1>
<span>Director: <span itemprop=”director”>Christopher Nolan</span> (born July 30, 1970)</span>
<span itemprop=”genre”>Science fiction</span>
<a href=”../movies/inception-theatrical-trailer.html” itemprop=”trailer”>Trailer</a>
</div>
Discover More About Schema
Schema was developed through a collaboration between Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex to address the shared need for improved technology to enable advanced features like featured snippets and voice search. More information about schema markup, its guidelines, and its ongoing development can be found at Schema.org.
Determining the Influence of Schema Markup
The SEO impact of schema markup can be measured by checking whether content with structured data ranks in special search features.
One tool for this is Advanced Web Ranking, a subscription-based SEO tool that tracks how websites rank for specific keywords on various search engines in different regions. For example, if a company wanted to know its website’s ranking in Bing when someone in Canada searches for “digital marketing training,” AWR could provide that information.
When tracking a keyword in AWR, a crown-shaped symbol appears next to the keyword if the website is featured in a relevant snippet. By monitoring keywords related to content with structured data, users can see if their schema markup improves visibility in featured snippets.
AWR also has a feature called “SERP features visibility,” which allows easy tracking of changes in visibility through featured snippets for selected keywords, offering a good overall measure of schema markup’s SEO success.
For those without the time or budget for AWR, a simpler (though limited) method is to perform a private or incognito search for the relevant keywords in a browser and check if the site appears in a special search feature.
The 4 A’s Framework for Integrating Schema Markup into Marketing
To conclude, here is a simple four-step process to help marketers incorporate schema markup into their regular workflow:
AUDIT: Identify relevant content on your website or blog that fits a Schema.org type, such as Place, Person, Action, or Recipe. Refer to Schema.org’s list of types, and note where schema markup can be added.
ADD: Apply schema to existing and new content using methods like a CMS plugin or Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, as discussed in this guide.
APPROVE: Verify your schema markup with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool before publishing.
ASSESS: Evaluate the impact of schema by checking how often your content appears in special search features for relevant queries.
This “4 As” process helps you implement and track schema markup without the need for coding knowledge.