What is schema markup?
Find out everything you need to know about schema markup
Have you ever searched for a movie on Google and seen a scoring system? If you, for example, search for The Godfather, you’ll see that it almost has five stars.
Brief Summary
Schema markup is a type of code that helps search engines understand the content on a website better. Implenting this can help improve the website’s visibility in search results and gain rich snippets.
Or let’s say that you’re searching for the latest phone because you’re thinking of buying a new phone. You might see stock information below the URL. For example, that there are three phones left in stock.
This type of extra information that appears when searching search engines is called a Rich Snippet. A rich snippet can be any type of additional information that you want to highlight.
To be able to get a rich snippet on Google, you need to use schema markup. Remember that not every website on Google will have a rich snippet; only a few do.
Schema is structured data; code that can be added to your website to make it easier for Google’s search engine to crawl and display certain content to users. Traditional HTML scripts enable the Google bots to interpret what the data says but not what the data actually means. Schema markup explains to the bots what the data means. Basically, schema markup helps us communicate with the bots and crawlers what our content means and why users should read it.
How does schema markup work?
If you write down the number three, referring to the fact that you have three shoes left in stock without using schema markup, the search engine will not know what the number means. Is it a phone number? Is it the cost of the shoe? By implementing schema markup, you’ll be communicating with the search engine that the numbers stand for how many pairs of shoes you have left in stock.
Schema + SEO
Using schema markup will boost your SEO efforts. Schema markup and SEO go hand in hand. Schema markup will improve a search engine’s ability to crawl and index your website. The faster your pages get crawled and indexed, the better results for your SEO activities. Implementing schema markup will improve your website’s visibility in the search result since, as mentioned above, not every website on Google’s search engine has a rich snippet. Additionally, schema markup can improve your user experience.
Schema markup examples
You can implement schema markup for articles, blogs, restaurants, events, receipts, products in online shops etc. If you can use schema markup, you should do so to boost your SEO efforts and business success.
Schema markup generator
To start implementing schema markup, you can use Google’s own Structured Data Markup Helper.
You select the type of schema you want to use, such as book reviews or TV episodes, and then paste the URL of the page on which you want to implement the schema.
As the next step, highlight or click elements on the page and select an attribute from the drop-down menu. You can select several elements and give them attributes. For example, you can choose whether the highlighted part is a name, image, offer etc. Once you’re done and happy with it, you can create an HTML structured data by clicking on Create HTML.
You can download the generated HTML structured data and implement the schema markup on your website through your CMS or source code.
Once the search engine crawls your website again and sees the changes you’ve implemented, you’ll most likely see the impact the schema markup has had on your website. You’ll also be able to see your hard work when you see your rich snippets in the search results.
Tip: When implementing schema markup, always consider your users. Which schema markup will help your users the most and give them the most value? Then, implement your schema markups based on the answer to that question.
