In this article I will therefore explain what structured data means and how you can best optimise it to rock SEO in 2018!
What are structured data?
Structured data is a code you can implement on your website. This code is written in a format that allows the search engines to understand and read it. When the search engines read this code, the content of the search results is displayed in various ways as an additional function.
Google reads and indexes your website to understand its content and make it visible in the search engine. Google constantly wants to connect users with the best and most relevant content available online. Therefore, in order to show your site in the search engine, the content and your website must be as relevant and optimised as possible for the search initiation.
Using structured data, you can enhance your search results in Google by telling your search engine what the information on your website is about.
Imagine having a website with food recipesSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. If you implement structured data into a page with one of the recipes, your search engine results will change. It will be enriched with even more content such as ratings, reviews, procedure and time to prepare the food.
Here, Tine has enriched its result with ratings and an assessment from customers who have traded and tested the product. Here you see how many assessments the product has got, as well as you can see how long it takes to prepare the apple cake. This is called rich snippets. To achieve such rich snippets, you need to implement structured data on your website.
In short, structured data will help you organize and classify different content on your websites.
PS: Although you add structured data to your website, there is no guarantee that it always will appear rich clippings of your page in Google.
What do you do with structured data?
With structured data, you get the opportunity to talk to the search engines more effectively. You can explain more to Google about the content of your pages and make the result even better for the users. This way you make your result even better and more relevant to the applicants. Everybody loves Rich snipets!
Google provides tools that Google Structured Data Testing Tool where you can both test if the page has added structured data and helps you implement it correctly.
Google is kind of secretive about how their algorithms weigh different elements on a given website, and much pretends that structured data is not a direct ranking factor. Yet we know that a page that has good and relevant data highlighted in its search results will get more clicks than a similar page that has not implemented this.
What is schedule.org?
The largest search engines have developed a project called Schedule.orgSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. Here you can find all structured data chips supported by search engines. Schedule.org acts as a large collection of code pieces.
You can use Schedule.org to find the different chips you need for your specific page. For example, if you sell t-shirts on your page, you want to show us what different sizes you offer. Then you use schedule.org to figure out what the possibilities are for this particular kind of snippet.
Here you can copy examples of codes. After you copy these, you have to customize the code to your specific preferences. The code format is adapted to allow search engines to understand the content and organise it for rich clippings.
Why is structured data important for SEO?
As mentioned above, structured data is becoming more important and more important. The competition in organic search is constantly increasing, and it is about getting out and making the best possible use of the user. Structured data is important for SEO primarily because it makes it easier for Google to understand what your pages are about. It is about highlighting information bits on one side in order to offer users more than competitors.
More specific information shown in the search results, the size of your search results increase, answers more search intentions and the chance of more clicks increase – which will in turn increase your rankings.
The implementation of structured data need not be difficult at all. You use schema.org to search out the correct code and customize it. Also use Google Tag Manager to put it on your page. Read more about procedures hereSo let's say that this is the same thing as that.
More structured data markup can also be added to your web page through plugins. For example: Yoast local SEO plugin for WordPress, for example, using structured data to display locations of shops. You don't have to code to get rich snipets, there are plugins where you fill out the details, so the computer does the rest!
So if you're not already in the game, get started with structured data in 2018!