Structured data are organized pieces of information in the form of code snippet that helps search engines better understand what the website’s content is about. They can also appear as rich results on the search engine result page (SERP).
There are many types of structured data that can be applied to web pages (e.g “HowTo”, “Article”, “Event”, or even “Organization” markup).
Here’s is an example of structured data markup for “Recipe” as a Rich Result in the SERP:
And here’s how these structured data look like as a script on a webpage:
Structured data is a critical part of on-page SEO as it can significantly improve the website’s presence in search results.
There are 2 main reasons why you should consider structured data for your pages:
Let’s take a closer look at the benefits that structured data can offer.
The primary purpose of the structured data is to help search engines like Google better understand the content on the website.
Generally speaking, search engines understand structured data better than normal text – it helps websites to convey the meaning of their content to the search engines more efficiently.
With structured data, Google might have a better understanding of your pages and show their content in the search queries that are more relevant for them.
Or as John Mueller clearly stated:
“So on the one hand, we do use structured data to better understand the entities on the page and to find out where that page is more relevant … So we will try to use that to show it in more relevant search results that would perhaps bring more users to your pages that actually match the topics of your pages.”
Structured data can be displayed in the form of rich snippets within the SERP and increase the overall CTR (click-through rate) of the webpage.
Whenever a web crawler visits a page, it also looks for any structured data that can be used for the visually enhanced snippet of that page in the search results.
Rich results are the main reason why website owners want to implement structured data to their pages – they are much more attractive and visually appealing as opposed to the regular search snippets.
Pages that can be displayed in the form of rich results can obtain much more organic traffic from Google – just check how they can stand out from the ordinary snippets in the SERP:
Tip: Structured data can be also used for social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) and other platforms as well!
Social networks use structured data to construct the shared object in their feeds (such as title, URL, featured image, author, and others).
Make sure that you properly implement structured data by using OpenGraph and test the code snippets with correct validation tools.
You can even implement structured data into the email templates – email providers (e.g. Gmail) use structured data to markup and display important information within their content in a more enhanced way (e.g. event reservations, orders, or product cards).
For more information, check out the documentation for structured data for Gmail.
Structured data does not serve as a ranking factor for Google.
Although structured data can improve visibility in the SERP and boost the CTR of the page, it won’t improve ranking positions in search results.
Structured data can only help your pages to be displayed in more relevant search queries.
In other words:
In order to create and implement structured data, you need to “speak” in the language of the search engines first – which is called schema markup.
Schema markup (also called schema.org) is a standardized computing language that describes the content of the webpage in an organized manner that is understood by search engines.
It contains vocabulary that helps search engines like Google understand what the website is actually about and display its content in a more appealing and efficient way within the search results.
Schema.org was developed in 2011 by the biggest search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo!) in order to provide and support a universal format for structured data that can be used by any website owner.
Schema markup is based on a hierarchical system of 2 categories – “Types” and “Properties” – they markup and describe small pieces of content on the page in an organized manner that is understandable for Google:
Each Type can contain more other Types (or sub-types) with Properties that describe what they are.
Let’s take a look at a simple example of how our company can be presented on the internet in the form of structured data, without using coding first:
Company - Mangools - https://mangools.com/ - Logo - https://mangools.com/mangools-logo-2.png - Width - 700px - Height - 235px
In the simple example above, we defined our Company as the main object/entity that can be described by attributes like name, homepage, and our logo – which can be further described by source and its size.
Here’s how this hierarchy of data can be transferred into the schema markup:
"@type":"Organization", "url":"https://mangools.com/", "name":"mangools", "logo":{ "@type":"ImageObject", "url":"https://mangools.com/mangools-logo-2.png", "width":"700px", "height":"235px"
Note: It is important to understand that schema.org provides hundreds of “Types” and “Properties” covering various topics and data that can be marked up in the content (e.g. products, music, videos, organizations, etc.).
If you would like to check the whole list of Types and their attributes, check out the official list of all schemas.
Structured data can be implemented as markups on your page by using one of the 3 major formats which Google understands: :
Let’s take a quick look at each of them.
JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is the most popular markup script that can be used for structured data.
It is also the most preferred version of structured data for Google:
The main advantage of JSON-LD is that it can be implemented as a block of code without messing up the rest of the HTML document – simply copy and paste the script in the <head> or <body> section of your page. This will keep the page clean and nicely structured.
Microdata is based on a set of tags that highlight items and values on a page for the structured data individually.
Types and Properties of structured data are marked via itemtype
and itemprop
HTML attributes that can be placed on a page.
The main downside of Microdata is that every entity or attribute of the content has to be marked individually within the HTML body of your pages – as opposed to the one big block of code that can be implemented by JSON-LD.
Sometimes it can be even difficult and chaotic to mark up every single item or property on pages by using Microdata – especially for larger websites.
RDFa (Resource Description Framework in Attributes) is an extension to HTML5 that can be used for marking up items for structured data.
Similar to Microdata, RDFa marks up pieces of content within the HTML body of the page by using typeof
and property
HTML attributes.
Here are the examples of all 3 major formats that can be used to markup the structured data:
<script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "LocalBusiness", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "San Francisco", "addressRegion": "CA", "streetAddress": "902 Corner street 10" }, "description": "Tasty pizza located in the heart of San Francisco.", "name": "Pizza Example", "telephone": "123-456-1111" } </script>
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness"> <h1><span itemprop="name">Pizza Example</span></h1> <span itemprop="description"> Tasty pizza located in the heart of San Francisco.</span> <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"> <span itemprop="streetAddress">902 Corner street 10</span> <span itemprop="addressLocality">San Francisco</span>, <span itemprop="addressRegion">CA</span> </div> Phone: <span itemprop="telephone">123-456-1111</span> </div>
<div >
Tip: The following types of markup are not commonly used but Google can still parse them:
Now, let’s take a look at schema markups that can appear as rich results in the Google SERP.
Google supports various types of schema markups that may appear as an enhanced search results.
Here is a list of currently supported items that can be marked up as structured data and appear as a rich result in the SERP:
Keep in mind though, that schema.org contains much more items that can be marked up to provide more information about your content - even if it does not result in the rich snippet.
Tip: If you would like to explore the rich results for the most popular search engines, be sure to check out:
Implementation of structured data to your pages does not guarantee that they will be displayed as a rich result.
Schema markup can indicate that its content might be relevant and useful to the users but it is up to the search engine to decide whether or not it will be used as an enhanced snippet in the SERP.
Even Google officially stated:
“Using structured data enables a feature to be present, it does not guarantee that it will be present.”
Search engines like Google take into account many variables such as the authority and trustworthiness of the website, history, location, etc. that can influence IF or WHEN the rich results will appear:
“...it can happen that we show a lot of these rich results for your website. And maybe we'll scale them back over time, maybe we'll scale that up again over time. It can also happen that we turn them off completely” (John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst).
Although you cannot directly control the appearance of structured data in the search results, some situations can prevent Google from using your schema markups:
Note: Be aware that Google ignores structured data for homepages even if they were implemented properly.
Implementation of structured data is not a rocket since, although it requires a little bit of practice and some logical thinking.
Keep in mind that the primary purpose of structured data is to help search engines better understand what the page is about and how it could be useful to the users - not only for the sake of rich results.
However, it can be sometimes difficult and overwhelming to describe your pages via schema markup - especially when it provides an endless list of types and properties that can describe your website.
Here are the best practices that you should keep in mind:
When you implement the most important schemas to your website, you can start to add more and more information from schema.org and gradually describe your content better.
Tip: If you are completely new to the world of structured data, try Google Codelab and its short tutorial to learn how structured data works.
Let’s take a look at how to create and implement schema markups for your pages.
When it comes to creating structured data, there are a few options that you can use.
You can either:
You can get some inspiration from schema.org and write your own script (e.g. in WordPress).
Although creating your own schema requires a little bit of experience with coding, it gives you the most flexibility - you can mark up anything you want and create the most complex structured data with plenty of information for the search engines.
This method though is the most time-consuming and possibly dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.
There are many online markup generators that will automatically create structured data for you. The most popular markup generators are:
Schema plugins are another great way for creating structured data on your website.
Keep in mind though that SEO plugins have their limitations - they usually focus on schema markups that are used only for rich results (not for any other data from schema.org).
On the other hand, these plugins can help you generate scripts that are “good-to-go” and can be automatically implemented to the code of your pages.
Here are a few popular schema plugins for WordPress:
Note: There are also many other great WordPress plugins that can help you implement structured data to your website - check out wordpress.org and find the ones that will suit you the best.
You should always test your schema markups before implementing them on your website.
Not only it is important to check if there are any errors but also to actually see how the structured data would look like in the form of rich result.
There are a few testing tools that can help you validate your scripts before publishing them:
Deploying prepared structured data is a pretty straightforward process.
If you are using plugins (such as Yoast SEO) or CMS that supports structured data, you do not have to do anything - the tools will implement structured data automatically for you.
However, these tools often lack flexibility or do not cover all markups that you would like to use. Due to this fact, you might try other options:
Simply create a new Custom HTML tag, paste your code snippet and publish it.
If you validated structured data before implementation, you should not have any problems.
Tip: You can use our Mangools SEO extension and see what structure data are your competitors using!
Check out which code format they prefer as well as all schema markups on their pages.
This post was last modified on February 23, 2023 3:01 pm