Do you want to maximize the value of your efforts in search engine optimization? then employ structured data! Structured data, or schema markup, is code that helps users understand the purpose and context of your page by providing them with specific information about it.
Schema markup can also increase the appearance of your search result listing, such as adding stars, which will increase the number of clicks. Are you now prepared to begin using Schema Markup for SEO?
What is structured data?
With terms like “standardized code format,” “data model, “or “relational databases,” the definition of structured data can seem confusing or overwhelming. What you need to know is that structured data provides code-based search engines with additional information about your page.
Search engines can verify that your page contains a recipe using structured data, for instance, as opposed to assuming that your page contains a recipe.
That data can improve how search engines display your content in search results. Users do not see structured data, whereas search engine crawlers do. Only when your markup produces a rich snippet will someone see your structured data.
Additional details, such as a product’s price, rating, and review count, are included in a rich snippet that users will find helpful.
What types of structured data can I use?
There are numerous different kinds of structured data. The most prevalent structured data are:
Local Business: This type of structured data is especially used in local SEO to share company hours, reviews, and other details to help customers find your business.
FAQ: Include the most frequently asked questions in search results for your business, such as how to respond to returns.
Video: Enter your video’s thumbnail, description, duration, and upload date to help Google display your videos in search results.
Job posting: Improve how well your listing appears in search results and include details about your company, such as the position’s details.
Event: Include useful event details like the venue, time, location, and ticket sellers to help you appear in Google Maps and other search results.
Breadcrumb: Display a website’s hierarchy by displaying a page’s location. For instance, a shoe product page might have the breadcrumb menu Men’s> Women’s Shoes> Women’s Nike Shoes.
Product: Include important details about your product, such as its price, rating, inventory status, and more.
Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper: It provides markup assistance for:
- Articles
- Events
- Movies
- Restaurants
- Book reviews
- Job postings
- Products
- Software applications
- Datasets
- Local businesses
- Question and answer pages
- TV episodes
You’ll need to look for a structured data markup generator that includes your preferred structured data type if you want to use schema markup outside of what Google’s tool offers. You can also reference its profile or page on Schema to create the markup on your own. .org.
Why use structured data for SEO?
Everyone who uses structured data does so for SEO. But why should your business devote so much time to structured data?
Excellent question. Structured data is a ranking factor, but Google indirectly impacts crucial ranking factors. Learn more about how to improve your On-Page SEO using structured data:
Improve click-through rates (CTRs) with structured data for SEO
A rich snippet of structured data, such as product and FAQ markup, can appear in search results.
Remember that adding stars, inventory, or pricing information can make your search result listing look better. This information may be used to direct visitors to your website. For instance, they are more likely to click on your page if they see you have the product in stock and have excellent ratings.
Their clicks can increase your page’s CTR, a Google Watch user metric, to increase. When your page receives a higher CTR than the pages that follow it, Google will notice that it is more relevant for a search. Google raises your page in response, increasing your position and attracting more website visitors.
Increase dwell time with structured data for SEO
Google also monitors dwell time, just like CTR.
It wants to know whether visitors return to your website after searching for its content. For instance, some users will click on one result only to realize it doesn’t answer their question before returning to the search results and clicking on another. Use structured data to give users useful information that can support their decision to visit your page.
With that extra confidence, your website will attract visitors who are most likely to stay on your page as well as those who are likely to visit your website. For instance, a user might bounce between pages searching for a new gaming console or something hard to find. However, using product markup makes it easier to inform users that you have the product in stock ahead of time, increasing their likelihood of visiting and staying there.
That results in a longer dwell time as well as a higher CTR.
Boost search result rankings with structured data for SEO
Your business can increase its position in search results as a result of improving user behavior metrics like CTR and dwell time because you meet or exceed user needs or expectations. Due to this benefit, a lot of businesses and organizations use structured data for SEO. Why wouldn’t you rank higher in relevant search results?
After all, 75% of users stay on the search results ‘first page. Not to mention that 75% of all clicks come from the top three search results on the first page. Structured data is extremely valuable for SEO because you must rank well for your company to succeed online.
How to improve your SEO with structured data?
Are you now prepared to learn how to use structured data to enhance SEO?
Use these seven steps to begin:
Bookmark these structured data tools
You first need the resources to create, test, and find structured data. Among them are:
- Schema: Find walkthroughs and structured data markup on.org.
- Create particular kinds of structured data markup using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper( https://www.google .com/webmasters/markup-helper/u/0/).
- Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool( https://search.google .com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/): Test all structured data markup.
- Google’s Rich Results Test Tool( https://search.google .com/test/rich-results) enables the testing and preview of structured data that can produce rich results.
Choose a Page to Mark Up
Then, you need to select the pages you want to mark up. You want to concentrate on your most important pages first, even though you can do more than one. For instance, pages featuring best-selling products or highly popular online guides could be included in these.
Choose the strategy that best serves your company’s overall objectives. To quickly find pages, you can use a free program like Google Analytics.
For instance, you can view pages using Google Analytics based on traffic, conversions, and other factors.
Use Google Search Console, a free alternative, to select pages based on their position in the Google search results. You have choices, in any case.
Add the page to Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper
Use the Structured Data Markup Helper now that you know which pages to markup. Choose the schema markup you want to use, and enter the URL of your page.
If the structured data markup helper, like FAQ markup, is insufficient to create the structured data you want, you will need to find an alternative tool or create the structured data in-house.
Finding a free tool for generating structured data is typically simple. For creating schema markup, those tools may have different processes than Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper. Since using Google’s tool is the most popular choice, especially for beginners, this walkthrough will concentrate on using it.
Create structured data markup
Highlight the appropriate elements in the Structured Data Markup Helper.
For instance, if you’re using the product markup, you’ll want to highlight the price before selecting “Price” from the dropdown menu. Your business can easily and conveniently create structured data for SEO using this setup.
Click “Add missing tags” at the bottom right if you have information that you can’t highlight on the page. A menu with this button allows you to manually enter information like name, description, and rating for product markup.
Click “Create HTML” in the upper right corner after you’ve marked up the page.
The structured data code will then be provided by the tool. To continue marking up your page, click “Back to tagging” if you notice any missing information.
You want to stick with JSON-LD despite the possibility of switching the structured data format from JSON-LD to microdata.
This format is preferred and recommended by Google over microdata, which is why businesses that use structured data for SEO prefer JSON-LD.
Test the structured data with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool
You still want to test your structured data, despite Google having generated it. Before updating your page, you can fix any errors, such as a typo when adding a tag manually. Use Google’s Rich Results Test Tool or Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool for this step.
Both will assess the schema markup. Use the Rich Results Test Tool if you’re using structured data to create rich snippets. You can see how your page’s rich snippet will appear in search results as a preview.
Use the Structured Data Testing Tool if not otherwise. Copy the structured data markup from the Structured Data Markup Helper, go ahead. Use the Rich Results Tool because product markup can produce a rich snippet for this example.
Then, click “Code,” paste your code, and then “Test Code.”
You can click “Preview Results” to view your page’s rich snippet once you have your test results.
Update the page with the structured data markup
You can add structured data markup to your page now that it has been tested and created. Developer skills might be required to update your page. For instance, you might want to ask your developer to add the structured data if you’re not familiar with HTML and don’t know how to do it.
Copy the code from the Structured Data Markup Helper tool if you like to modify pages. The code should be copied before the closing body tag, then. You can include your markup at the beginning of your page, but you’ll put it at the end of your page instead.
Monitor Results in Google Search Console
Do you intend to generate rich snippets using structured data? Then you’ll want to monitor Google Search Console’s performance and appearance. You can see which pages produced rich snippets in Google Search Console and whether those rich snippets received clicks.
Simply go to the “Search results” section under “Performance.” Then, select the “Search Appearance” option. Use the available filters to view rich snippet performance by page, date, device, country, and other parameters. How using structured data for SEO has helped your company get more views and clicks from tracking your rich snippet performance can help you understand how.
You’ll also want to monitor each page’s rankings, traffic, and conversions in addition to monitoring rich snippet performance.