After drafting content for all of your site’s pages, conducting and implementing keyword research, adding image alt text to your images, and all the necessary steps for optimizing your page for SEO, you may be wondering what else you can do. Although it is not seen on the user interface of a page, adding structured data markup to your webpages can enhance your pages’ technical SEO in the eyes of Googlebot and other search engine’s crawlers.
What Is Structured Data Markup?
Structured data is coded markup on a webpage that helps search engines understand the content of a page. It also provides search engines with a greater understanding of where to place the page within search results based on user search intent.
There are three encoding types used for structured data markup: RDFa, Microdata, and JSON-LD. The most commonly used one is JSON-LD and is the structured data encoding type recommended by Google, as long as your site setup allows for it, as it is the easiest one to implement and maintain at scale.
The best way to understand how structured data markup looks is by doing a quick Google search. If you were to look up a recipe, for example, you would find web pages that include recipe schema on the page:
There are many different structured data markups that you can add to a webpage for different purposes. Anything from reviews to local business information to product information can be added into the backend of a webpage using structured data markup.
In another example, when searching for a specific business, you may find their reviews included on the search engine results page. This could appear as a star rating and the number of reviews that the page has (see example below).
JSON-LD
JSON-LD is the recommended format for structured data, according to Google. It is Javascript embedded in a <script> in the <head> and <body> of an HTML page. Using JavaScript code or embedded widgets, Google is able to read JSON-LD to understand data items that help to explain the content of your page to search engine crawlers.
JSON-LD stands for JavaScript Object notation for Linked Data. In most cases, it is easier to use than Microdata and RDFa because it does not rely on HTML attributes. This format is also separate from a page’s existing markup and is the best option for tools that don’t support structured data.
Microdata
Microdata uses HTML tag attributes to name properties that make up your structured data. These properties help Google understand important content pieces that make up your page, including properties such as target location and business information. Although it is typically used in the <body> of a page, microdata can also be added to the <head> of a page.
RDFa
RDFa is an HTML5 extension that uses HTML tag attributes that correspond to user-visible content. This helps you describe the user-visible content to search engines. It is most commonly found in both the <head> and <body> of the HTML page.
What Is Schema?
Schema markup from Schema.org is a form of microdata used by top search engines such as Google and Bing that can be used with all structured data encoding types. Schema markup helps create rich snippets to appear in search results. There are several types of schema that can be used to help search engines understand your web pages including:
- Organization: this includes your company’s main information (i.e. name, logo, contact information)
- Person: this lists the details of an individual (i.e. name, birthdate, family)
- Local Business: this helps local consumers easily find the company’s physical location and information (i.e. address, hours, menu) and is often used as part of your local SEO strategy
- Product & Offer: information about products such as price, name, and whether it is in stock
- Breadcrumbs: helps reduce bounce rates by providing users with an understanding of how they reached a certain page on the site
- Article: Commonly used to indicate to search engines that the page is a news or blog post
- Video: helps search engines crawl and index videos on your site
- Event: Provides information for concerts, webinars, festivals, lectures, and other events
- Recipe: Allows search engines to provide rich snippets of recipes on your site (including images and reviews)
- Reviews: shows reviews for certain products or services on your site directly within a SERP
How to Add Structured Data Markup to a Webpage
Typically, structured data markup is added to webpages by a company’s web developer or SEO specialist. This type of markup can be tricky to get correct. If your code is incorrect, search engines will not be able to use it when understanding the content of your page. To check that your structured data markup is correct, you can test it through Schema’s test tool to ensure that it reads properly.
