What is Structured Data in SEO and its benefit to Business?
Every year SEO has been changing its trends. This year Search Engine Optimization has seen an enormous surge in structured data. It is expected to grow like the hockey stick graph. There is one trend that deserves our attention as business leaders—one that has implications for so many. We have covered the other trends in the past (voice search, local optimization, social media, and video, among others).
This year’s emphasis on SEO success is the schema. It is referred to as “structured data,” “structured data markup,” or “schema markup.” Many may wonder what structured data is in SEO. What is the importance of structured data? Structured markup is the way of highlighting critical information for search engines to find your business.
Structured data markup is a code on the back end of your website that helps search engines understand the meaning and relevance of the information on a website. More than an SEO strategy, it is a foundation for machines to understand your content. It also makes your site visible in various search result formats.
How to generate Schema Tag and structured data in SEO?
In other words, the structured data code is a surefire way to boost your page rankings, increase click-through rates, and cultivate higher-quality traffic. Most businesses do not realize how vital it is. They are intimidated by the prospect of attempting anything related to coding.
Here are the top five intended results of utilizing structured data in SEO strategy. This way, you have a basis for measuring success when you assign the task to an on-staff specialist or an outsourced digital agency.
- Featured Snippets
When a user asks a question in Google Search, a result in a special block at the top of the results page is often shown above ads and organic results. This featured snippet block is also known as “position zero.” It includes a summary of the answer extracted from a webpage, a link to the page, the page title, and the URL. The example below shows that the most recent article doesn’t pull the featured snippet. But it is necessary for one of the top search results.
The summary is a snippet extracted programmatically from what a visitor sees on a web page. It answers the user’s question and is then enhanced to draw user attention to the results page. How does Google know if you have the answer to the question? Structured data markup. Getting position zero for any query is a lofty goal. But one thing is undoubtedly worth aiming for—structured data code is the most effective way to get there.
- Voice Search
Structured data markup allows search engines to find your website’s answers to their queries more readily. Potential customers or clients are using voice search from a device that defaults to Google (i.e., iPhones and Androids). Then the results are pulled from the featured snippets we just discussed. Amazon’s Alexa, on the other hand (the most commonly used voice service to date), pulls search results from Bing, which also supports and prioritizes structured markup.
So if you want to be found by the 30 percent of all website sessions that are predicted to conduct via voice by 2020, now is the time to get your structured data in SEO strategies in order.
- Local Business
When users search for businesses on Google Search or Maps, Search results often display a prominent section with details about a business that matched the query. This information can include business address, hours of operation, different departments, contact information, reservation capabilities, logo, and more. When users query for a type of business, such as a clothing boutique, they typically see a carousel of listings featuring clothing boutiques.
It is all the structured data markup at work, allowing you to foreground vital information about your business. It serves up to search engine users in an easily digestible format.
- Social Media
It likely comes as no surprise that each year the importance of social media for businesses continues to skyrocket. Currently, 42 percent of people worldwide use social media for more than just connecting with friends. They rely on social media to tell them which businesses and services to trust, obtain information, and engage with. Suppose your social media profiles aren’t easily accessible throughout the web. In that case, there is a good chance you will lose out to your more visible competitors.
The good news is that you can use schema markup on your website to add your social profile information to a Google Knowledge panel. Knowledge panels prominently display your social profile information in some Google Search results. The below example from Google shows how your credibility and visibility can immediately improve when users see multiple ways to engage with your organization immediately.
- Video
We have been saying it for years, and it is not going away—video continues to be the king of content. Not only is it one of the most effective ways to disseminate information to your target audience in a memorable way, but the medium is extremely helpful for SEO as well. In fact, for certain search queries, video content often outranks entire websites. This is especially true for how-to types of content. Schema can leverage the hosted or embedded video content. Just as Google mainly displays video-rich snippets for streaming platforms like YouTube, simultaneously, this schema markup can help rich snippets from your online website show up in the Google Video Search.
The benefits do not end there. Businesses can leverage this powerful tool to get more eyes on published articles and blog posts or even enhance recruitment efforts by boosting the presence of job postings. Bottom line? Do you want to get success in SEO in 2020? Then it’s imperative to engage a trusted professional with extensive experience in structured data in SEO.
Comments 3