Schema Markup has been around for a couple of years now but it still hasn’t become a common norm to use it. Schema Markup is a common standard of structured data used to assign content with labels that describe what the content means rather than just what it says. This helps search engines understand what your content is about, associating it with searches and results better.
The entire point of Schema Markup is to define information better. There is so much information scattered across the vast internet so you can imagine search results based on matching text and what content says will not be 100% effective. If we label information with schema markups, it defines the type of data and allows readers to find out about you quicker.
Schema Markup displays on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) as snippets of information pertaining to your content. Take for example a recipe, if marked up correctly, it will show up with the recipe rating, cooking time, ingredients and instructions. Here’s an example:
Based on the image above, you can guess which site gets clicked on most. Having the recipe instructions marked up allows them to be displayed in Google’s Knowledge Graph, the box of information that appears at the top right side of the SERP. This short summary of information delivers your content to your audience better.
There’s isn’t enough concrete data to conclude that schema markup automatically boosts your SEO (as a lot of other blogs promise). However, there are notable differences wherein rankings have improved. Google has hinted that they may be including schema markup to be a factor in their ranking algorithm. Even developments in mobile browsing like the accelerated mobile pages rely on structured data to enhance user experience. So think of using schema markup as giving your site a head start for SEO in the near future.
Whether you’ve got a business website, online store or just a personal blog, using structured data can help you go a long way. Using schema markups yourself can be a bit confusing if you don’t understand the technicalities behind adding the code. There is an entire hierarchy to schemas and that need to be implemented correctly otherwise you end up with a chain of multiple errors that mess up how search engines crawl your page. But that’s nothing to be afraid of. There is, of course, an alternative.
The Easy Way to Use Schema Markup
Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper makes it easy for anyone to add schema markups to their site. All you have to do is input the URL of the page you’d like to mark up and then start tagging the data that needs to be labeled. Here’s what it looks like.
An HTML code is then generated with the schema markup highlighted so you can easily find it and copy it across to your site’s code.
When you’re done updating the page with the schemas, take the HTML code or the URL and test it on Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. It will read the schema markups and let you know if you have any errors. Go back and review your code if ever you find any. You can consult the official list of schemas to be 100% sure.
Adding structured data markups may be a bit time consuming but it’s absolutely worth it. You’re basically optimizing all the data you possibly can to allow search engines to understand what your content is. These methods prepare sites for the way how we conduct searches has and still is, changing. Google is constantly updating their algorithm to improve user experience, you want to do whatever you can to keep up and stay relevant.
