How To Use Schema Markup For SEO?

Have you ever wondered how to make Rich Snippets (structured data), such as ratings, product information and contact details, appear in the search results for your website?

There are many ways to tell Google and other search engines about the content of a web page. In addition to writing great content, which should always be your starting point, you can clearly describe its content in detail with a specific type of markup called Schema Markup.

At a first glance, it may seem complicated, but once you’re familiar with what it is and how you can use it to your advantage, you can get amazing results when it comes to ranking high on search engines.

What Is Schema Markup?

Schema Markup search result example in Google SERP

Before delving into the importance of schema markup (structured data) for SEO, you need to understand what schema markup actually is.

Schema Markup is a way to describe to search engines what the content is about in a way they can understand. It can give context to a web page that otherwise seems ambiguous to search engines.

It includes tags and microdata that Webmasters can add to the HTML of their page. This data is not on the web page, but it organizes the information in such a way that it is machine-readable.

All schemas for structured data can be found on Schema.org, a collaborative, community activity founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex.

The website lists 836 types of schemas at the time this article is published, but the commonly used types are:

Why Is Structured Data Important?

Structured Data written on a yellow background and a magnifying glass

There was a reason why Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex created Schema.org. They believe it will really help with the overall search experience when used properly.

Correctly implementing structured data on your web page offers numerous advantages.

1. Provide better understanding to search engines

One of the main advantages of using Schema Markup and structured data is that you are providing a better understanding of search engines about the content published on your website.

Sometimes a search term can have two different meanings and the search engine algorithms can misunderstand the meaning of the term which can lead to irrelevant results and bad user experience (UX).

However, by using schema markup, you can clearly tell the search engine bots what your web page is about.

For example, if you’re writing about Apple, the fruit, you can mention that in the schema markup so that the bot does not confuse it with Apple, the brand.

2. Appear on Google as rich snippets

Rich snippets are enhanced search results displayed by search engines on their SERP. They have more visual appeal and can help you stand out among your competitors.

Rich Snippets are a result of the structured data markup on your website and can help you in boosting the Click-through Rate (CTR) of your web page. Common types of rich snippets include reviews, recipes and events.

3. Appear in Google’s knowledge graph

When you search for something on Google, the results that come on the right side of the search engine in a box or above the organic results in a carousel or photo gallery is the knowledge graph. Knowledge graph answers are picked up from various sources.

Knowledge graph has a positive impact on both user experience (UX) as well as website traffic. Appearing on Google’s knowledge graph will also give more visibility, authority and credibility to your brand.

For example, if you search for the word “pasta” on Google, you will get a detailed knowledge graph. First, you will see a definition of what is pasta, then you will see its place of origin and popular pasta dishes.

You can also see the nutritional facts about pasta in detail. And, at the very end of the knowledge, you’ll also be able to see “People also search for”.

By marking these types of information as structured data on your website, you are making it easier for Google to recognize the information. It will also give you a chance to appear in Google’s knowledge graph. 

4. Get more social media followers

Increasing the number of followers can also be accomplished with schema markup. If you markup your social media accounts, internet users will be able to see the relevant icons on Google SERP when they search for your brand.

When clicked, these icons will take the users to your business’ social media platforms. This can be a great way to increase your following organically without any paid push.

5. Appear in the People also ask section

If you have a web page that contains a list of frequently asked questions and answers on a particular topic, you can mark it up with the FAQ schema.

Using the FAQ schema can make you eligible to appear in the People also ask section on Google SERP. Appearing on these questions can have a positive impact on the traffic and CTR of your webpage.

General Structured Data Guidelines

GUIDELINES written on a red colored wooden block

Google has formulated some general guidelines that are applicable to all structured data. Web pages must follow these guidelines to ensure that their structured data is eligible for inclusion on Google SERP.

There are two types of guidelines that need to be followed – technical & quality. The compliance of technical guidelines can be easily tested using a URL inspection tool and rich results test on Google Search Console. Quality guidelines, however, cannot be tested using any automated tool.

Violating any of these guidelines can result in your web page receiving a less favorable ranking or being marked as ineligible for rich results. It can even be marked as spam. 

Technical Guidelines

Format: To ensure that your page is eligible for rich results, it should be marked up using one of the three recommended formats – JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa. Google advocates JSON-LD.

Access: The Googlebot should have access to your structured data pages. It should not be blocked using robots.txt, no-index, or any other access control methods.

Quality Guidelines

Content: All quality guidelines set by Google webmasters must be followed. The information provided should be up-to-date, original and relevant. The content that you markup should be visible to the readers. It should mislead or deceive them in any way.

Relevance: Your structured data should be a true representation of the content of the page. For example, if you’re making DIY videos, they should not be mislabeled as recipes. Live streaming broadcasts should not be labelled as local events.

Completeness: For the different types of structured data you’re using on your web page, all required properties should be specified. Items that are missing required properties will be ineligible for rich results.

Location: The structured data should be put on the page that it describes. If there are multiple pages for the same content, the structured data should be placed on all the pages and not just the canonical page.

Specificity: For each specific rich result type, use the specified structured data and properties only. The documentation for your specific rich result type will enumerate the guidelines to be followed.

Image: When you identify an image as a structured data property, ensure that the image actually belongs to the structured data of that type. All image URLs must be crawlable and indexable, else, the Googlebot will not be able to find and show them on SERP.

How To Add Structured Data To Your Site?

HOW with a question mark with the blue background

Now let’s move on to the way to add a markup scheme to your site.

It all depends on how you want to go about it. Setting up structured data can even be quite a lengthy process.

It basically depends on 3 factors:

The following 3 options can be used to implement the markup scheme:

Option 1: Manually add your markup scheme

This option is to manually add the structured data in the source code of your website.

It is not recommended to use this option unless you are fluent in PHP language. In short, you should be proficient in web development.

Warning: you can do quite a bit of damage if you don’t do it right.

But manually entering your structured data has its advantages:

So, this is an option to consider if and only if getting your hands on the code doesn’t scare you.

Option 2: Use Google’s Markup Help Tool

Google provides a structured data markup helper tool to help webmasters add schema tags to their sites without much hassle.

Google’s markup helper works for any site, no matter:

It is quite simple to use and it is done in 3 steps.

Step 1 – Indicate the page

Indeed, it is also possible to add structured data to your emails. This is how Google recognizes that an email concerns a plane ticket, for example.

Step 2 – Tag the data

The “Tagging data” page is divided into 2 parts:

To tag something:

And so on.

These are the basic functions of the markup helper. The process is the same regardless of the type of content to be tagged.

If you make a mistake, click on the highlighted area you want to correct, the popup window will appear. At the very top, you will see “Clear tag”. It is as simple as that.

As you go, the “My Data Items” window fills up with all the items you have marked.

It is not mandatory to mark all the elements in the area on the right, but I recommend that you do so comprehensively. This way your markup is as complete as possible. And that gives more weight to the SEO of the page.

Once you are done tagging your page, click on the red “Create HTML” button on the top right corner.

Step 3 – Copy & paste the HTML code

This is the last step.

Warning: By default, the proposed format is JSON-LD, which is the preferred format by Google. If you want the Microdata format, choose the Microdata option.

It was quite easy so far. Now it will get a bit more complicated because you need to add this markup on your web page. This is the hardest part.

For static pages, it’s pretty easy to markup your site.

On the other hand, if your business website has non-static pages, it is more difficult. And unfortunately, this is the case with most content management systems (CMS).

Worse yet, WordPress adds an additional difficulty because WordPress cuts out your content. You get the body of the text in your content editor, but the header is in another file.

Whats the problem in this?

Part of the markup needs to be placed in the header. This means that you will have to manually insert the code into your theme file.

And I’d rather warn you, you can easily break your website if you don’t do it right.

Even if you have backups of your site, if your site is broken, you are going to suffer to get it back on track. For this reason, I recommend that you hire a developer if you take this option.

A second problem with Google’s markup helper is that you have to do the process described above for all of your pages one by one.

Fortunately, with WordPress, as soon as things get complicated, there is always a developer who jumps at the chance to offer an extension.

Option 3: Use a WordPress plugin

If, like me, you’re one of the millions of people who use WordPress for their website, using a plugin to set up a markup scheme for your website is going to make everything easier.

There are several dedicated plugins that you can use. The most popular ones are:

Final Thoughts

To summarize, Schema Markup can be a great way of boosting the SEO of your page and improve its visibility on SERP.

The richer your link appears; the more likely Internet users will click on it and therefore visit your site.

If your site lives up to their expectations, the bounce rate will decrease and you will improve your SEO. A lower bounce rate tells Google that your site is delivering what it promises.

Plus, as structured data continues to gain in importance, there’s a good chance you can stay ahead of your competition.

Think about it, if you have a hair salon for example and your 300 five-star reviews are visible on SERP, you are one step ahead of your competitor who has not posted their reviews.

Vaibhav Lall

With more than 12 years of experience in digital marketing and consulting, Vaibhav is passionate about helping businesses grow through the strategic use of digital marketing best practices. When he's not busy advising startups, Vaibhav takes delight in listening to Jazz or John Mayer and Coldplay songs. He is also an avid proponent of the practice of mindfulness and starts his day with a calming meditation session. In his free time, Vaibhav can be found in quite corner, reading a Simon Sinek or Ben Horowitz book.