Structured Data Markup, Schema, and Rich Snippets
What is Structured Data Markup
First, let me tell you what Structured Data Markup, Schema, and Rich Snippets is. We implement structured data using schema, just like we build a website using HTML. Structured data is a code or format that we add to the website. Search engines understand this data and display your website information in search results in a richer way. Let’s say you have a site related to recipes, if you have added structured data to your website, your website listing will look richer in search results, because of the rich result, we call it rich snippets.
Schema.org
schema.org is default language to implement structured data. You can use schema.org to find the mark up you need for your website or page. From Schema vocabulary, you can add a markup to your site either through the Microdata format, or JSON-LD. I recommend using JSON-LD because it is easy, and Google prefers this mark up as well. There is a lot of information that we can mark up on a website. Schema.org contains a list of all the schemas for structured data markup.
Currently supported items by Google Search engine are:
- Book
- Recipe
- Movie
- Video
- Event
- Q&A
- FAQ
- Breadcrumb
- Organization
- Person
- LocalBusiness
- Product
- Review, AggregateRating
You can know more about adding structured data here.
If you have a website in WordPress, you can add structured data markup using plugins also. Yoast SEO WordPress plugin automatically adds the most important structured data to your site. All In One Schema Rich Snippets is also a useful WordPress plugin for all your schema needs.
Below is the example of Logo Structured Data that you can add within your <head> tag:
script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"url": "http://www.example.com",
"logo": "http://www.example.com/images/logo.png"
}
</script>
Benefits of Structured Data in SEO
Structured data is not a ranking factor. It does not give a ranking boost. But Structured data helps Google to understand the page content that makes the page more relevant for the search queries.
As it gives your listing a rich look, It helps in getting more clicks means a higher click-through rate as well. You can get more conversions also using schema.