The Importance of Schema Markup for SEO

Schema markup offers marketers a relatively low-touch way to increase SERP visibility by surfacing relevant information users need to make decisions. There are hundreds of types of schema markup available, and implementing the right markup for key pages of your site can increase organic clicks and conversions by differentiating your brand from the competition.

What Is Schema Markup?

Schema markup is a snippet of code added to a webpage that helps search engines find organic on-page content. Sometimes referred to as schema tags, website schema is written in three language structures:

JSON-LD—JavaScript Object Notation for Linking Data, or (mercifully, JSON-LD for short), has been Google’s preferred format since 2015 and the official recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium. This markup links to relevant content, which makes it more useful for web crawlers and bots. That’s why it’s Google’s preferred variation; it makes crawling and organizing websites a little easier!

Microdata – Microdata includes a range of structured data within existing page content. Think of it as a built-in highlighter showing search engines what to look for on valuable pages.

RFDa – Resource Description Framework in Attributes adds structured data to HTML. It’s very similar to microdata and is considered the simplest type of schema markup.

The Benefits of Schema Markup

Implementing schema markup on your website has several advantages. Numerous (very nerdy) studies show that properly implemented schema markup on SEO-rich pages can greatly improve a few key metrics, including:

Increased visibility – Schema offers rich, informative results that differentiate search results. For example, the product and review schema below gives users a rating and information about product pricing and shipping. This is much more useful than just a title tag and a meta description!

Improved click-through rates – The additional information improves visibility and clicks, winning more organic traffic for your website.

Benefits for AI and voice search – Schema markup is especially important for voice search queries. Tools like Google Assistant and Siri use schema markup to craft more relevant and informative responses, including the details “highlighted” by the schema.

The Best Types of Schema to Use (and One You Don’t Need)

There are thousands of schema types available, and while many are industry-specific, there are several universal types of schema marketers can use on most websites.

Organization Schema

Organization schema is used to describe important details about a business, non-profit, or other entity. This schema will highlight business information on the SERP, including:

• Business name
• Logo
• Contact information, including phone number and email address
• Social media profiles
• Industry category

Article Schema

The article schema is used across most types of written content and includes subtypes like new articles, blog posts, academic articles, white papers, and more. Pages with article schema benefit from highlighting important information on the SERP, including:

• Headline (or title)
• Author
• Publish date (and last date modified)
• A description of the article

Product Schema

Product schema is a big part of ecommerce websites because it puts important details about the product right on the SERP. As noted in the running shoe example above, product schema includes information about:

• Price
• Images
• Reviews
• Availability
• Delivery information

Local Business Schema

Local business schema allows organizations with a physical location to share location details with search users on the SERP and on platforms like Google Maps and Apple Maps. The schema displays details like:

• Address
• Phone number
• Hours of operation
• Reviews

FAQ Schema (Skip It)

FAQ schema markup is used on dedicated FAQ pages and pages with dedicated FAQ sections. Historically, any website could use FAQ schema, but Google has since prioritized government and health-focused websites for FAQ schema and related search queries. Google largely ignores FAQ schema on .com domains these days, but those pages may still gain organic rank or win SERP features!

How to Implement Schema Markup

Writing and implementing schema markup is remarkably easy, thanks to freely available tools from Google and other websites. And it makes sense; the rich results shaped by schema markup make the search results page better for the user, which, in turn, is better for Google and other search engines.

Here’s a how-to for generating and implementing schema markup.

Generating Schema Markup

1. Identify the type of content you’re going to mark up; it will likely fall into one of the schema types noted above, or explore more options at schema.org.
2. Select the correct schema for the content.
3. Go to Google’s Structured Data Markup tool and select the schema type you will use.
4. Copy and paste the URL from the page you’re going to markup.
5. Tag the relevant components of the page; the tool will help you find all the information you can include!
6. Generate the code and save it.

Implementing Schema Markup

Depending on your web development skills, website platform, and available plugins, there are several ways to implement schema.

• DIY – If you’re comfortable with code, simply paste the schema into the <head> tag of the page you’re marking up. If you’re not comfortable with code, we know people who are.
• Check your website—Some website builders offer an option to generate schema on any page before or after publishing. Check your CMS to see if you can do this directly on your website’s back end.
• Use a plug-in – Tools like Yoast SEO and other plugs allow you to create schema automatically.

Once the code is implemented and published, it should be validated using a schema markup checker. We prefer the schema validator tool from Schema.org, but other flavors are available.

Little Changes Equal Big Wins

Schema markup is the perfect example of small tweaks having a big impact on marketing performance. The larger your ecommerce website, the more a fractional increase in click-through rate has on sales, brand awareness, and overall growth. For more ways to turn little adjustments into better results, talk to the integrated marketing experts at Oneupweb. Get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today to start your project!