In a nutshell, a great way to help search engines display and understand content is through schema structured data markup. This code is added to the HTML of a website, and once it’s there, the schema generates a rich snippet or emphasised description that shows up in search results.
When users search for products or services online, and they arrive at a page containing exactly the information they’re looking for, that’s schema markup at play. Schema markups can enhance the descriptions on the results pages, allowing users to digest all the information they need within the description.
Schema Markup and SEO
Thanks to Google, Bing, and Yahoo’s synergistic effort, schema markups came about. The entire goal was to have a full grasp of online content and use that understanding to display results that provide the most valuable information.
What schema does is contextualise the content of webpages, allowing you to rank well on major search engines. Since the results already contain all relevant information, from location to your main service, users are more likely to click if they feel that this is the page they’re looking for.
Having good schema markup on your site gets you relevant clicks on your site. This saves you clicks from users who stumbled upon your page but will bounce off right away because your content is not what they’re looking for. Consequently, this reduces bounce rate and potentially increases conversion.
Not all websites take advantage of schema. In fact, only less than one-third of Google results contain schema. While they’re missing out on a lot, this is an excellent opportunity for you to stay ahead of the competition.
Who Will Benefit From Schema?
There is no “one size fits all” approach to schema. Schema-structured data is generally used for websites to get a markup, no matter what it’s about. Categories that will benefit from the use of schema markup include, but are not limited to:
- Businesses
- Events
- Organisations
- People
- Products
- Recipes
- Reviews
- Videos
When it comes to the types of schema markup, there are four typical ones:
- Local Business Schema Markup – No matter what industry a business is in, it should have one of these. Possible customers are able to learn about the operation hours, address, and contact information of the business through this schema.
- Organisational Schema Markup – This includes contact information, social media profile links, official logo, and location. These are best for providing a basic company rundown. Since there’s contact information, it offers customers convenience in reaching out.
- Person Market Schema Markup – As the name suggests, basic information about people (public figures) that people may be searching for will be found swiftly. The information of this schema includes education, birthdays, addresses, and even family members.
- Product and Offer Schema Markup – Standing out from the competition is made easier with this schema. When markups aren’t being used by competitors, users will get to assess your value and see the pricing of what you’ve got on offer.
Conclusion
Schema markup is a great way to help define pages as users look at search engine results pages. It’s code added to the HTML of a website, also helping the site to rank up in SERPs. The four typical ones are product and offer markup, person market, organisation schema markup and local business schema markup.
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