Schema Markup

Let's talk SEO: Structured Data

 

When talking about SEO and getting the best opportunity for online visibility. Often you hear about Schema Mark-Up or Structured Data. Just as often when you are discussing structured data with people outside of the SEO & Web Development communities you get reactions such as the GIF shown above! That is why I have decided to explore the world of structured data and hopefully shed some light on the subject. First and foremost let's dive into what structured data is. Data structures provide a means to manage large amounts of data efficiently for uses such as internet indexing services. (i.e.) Google, Bing, Yandex, etc. In other words, it is an easily readable format for web crawlers to read and digest what kind of content a specific website has to offer.

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We are currently running a few experiments within structured data markup on this very website. You can view these pages by clicking the following Q&A Markup or How To Markup

 

A phenomenal resource on structured data is offered at schema.org a collaborative community with a single purpose of creating, maintaining and promoting schemas for structured data on the internet. Schemas are readily available in several different encoding formats: RDFa, microdata, and JSON-LD. It should be noted that schemas are best described as a massive project. That provides mutually-agreed-upon definitions for microdata tags across the world wide web. Whereas, Structured Data - simply stated, a system for pairing a name with a value that enhances search engines and their web crawlers capabilities to categorize and index your content.

Structured Data can be leveraged to mark up a variety of items. Including products, recipes, and events. However, I, believe it is most often used in providing additional information about:

 

• Website

• Person

• Organization

• Local Business

• Article

• Event

• Product

• Sitelinks

 

To take a more in-depth look at the different Schemas available, click here. I encourage you to explore all of the content available on the schema website and all the different options available. It really is quite something when you slow-down to think about it for a moment. Especially, considering it is a massive collaboration that cuts through everything. A schema is the proverbial Switzerland of the World Wide Web. Cool. I'm sure you are thinking now, "that's great but what the heck does this all mean?"

Let's Look at a JSON-LD Schema Example

Let's say you are the webmaster of a Farm Drainage Company and you are interested in adding schema markup specifically for marking up an organization. Now, your website already has all the relevant information throughout the site, such as your contact information, relevant content and social links. What this structured data will do is gather your relevant information as an organization and format it in such a way that it is easily digestible by web crawlers. In turn, making your site more visible to indexes and ultimately to searchers via an enhanced SERP. Rather than the web crawlers looking all over your sitemap and source code for the relevant information, it is seeking. It will be placed within your web page in a neat tightly packed, concise format for the web crawler to read. Another great resource is utilizing a Schema Markup Generator. The one I fancy is on technicalseo.comechnicalseo.com they have a great resource for creating structured data. Make's life a little easier for people involved in the SEO community and DIY'ers alike. What you see below is what your structured data could look like for our fictional, Farm Drainage Organization, that we will call, "Plug & Flow Farm Drainage". The language shown below is what I prefer to use. Which is JSON-LD:

 

<script type="application/ld+json">

{

"@context": "http://schema.org",

"@type": "Organization",

"name": "Plug & Flow Farm Drainage",

"alternateName": "Flow Farm Drainage Services",

"url": "https://www.PFfarmdrainage.com",

"logo": "https://www.PFfarmdrainage.com/company_logo",

"contactPoint": {

"@type": "ContactPoint",

"telephone": "+1-800-555-5555",

"contactType": "customer service",

"contactOption": "TollFree",

"areaServed": "US",

"availableLanguage": "English"

},

"sameAs": [

"https://www.facebook.com/farmdrainage",

"https://www.twitter.com/farmdrainage"

]

}

</script>

 

This "code" (or markup snippet) would be placed in between your <head> </head> tags in your web page. Essentially, right into your website's meta-data. Before you do this you will want to 'validate' your newly created structured data first. Take advantage of the validation tool available from Google. Super easy to use and what I think is great about this tool. It will show you what your potential Rich Snippet or Structured Data will look like on search. Now, let's break down what each line of this "code" is telling our creepy crawlers about your website and ultimately about your organization.

 

1. The first line is telling the crawlers and browsers. What language is being used? In this case, JSON-LD.

2. '@context' - Which is describing the location where it can help to be understood - in our situation that is at schema.org.

3. '@type' - This is referring to what type of schema we have decided to use.

4. 'name' - Very straight-forward your corporation's name.

5. 'alternateName' - Option to list any abbreviation or names your company goes by.

6. 'url' - Website address for your business.

7. 'logo' - a URL to a web page where your company logo can be found/used.

8. 'contactPoint' - Expression for incoming detail on contact info.

9. '@type' - See #3 in this list.

10. 'telephone' - Telephone number for business including country code.

11. 'contactType' - Describing what kind of contact this is - Customer Service.

12. 'contactOption' - Describing what kind of number is listed, Toll-Free for our example.

13. 'areaServed' - Describing what geographic area is served by this company.

14. 'availableLanguage' - Describing what language is available for this contact option.

15. Finally, the last line(s) 'sameAs' are forming the link between the company, company URL and the company's social media platforms.

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