There is so much going on in the world of SEO that you might feel lost. You are investing a lot in your SEO, you are following all the latest trends, and you are applying all the best SEO practices, but the results aren’t there. What’s wrong? Why is it taking so much time? What’s missing that can take your site’s ranking up across all SERPs? The answer might be simpler than you think – Schema Markup.
What is a Schema Markup?
Once your website goes live, search engines like Google read the content on your website to figure out where your website belongs on the SERP and how it needs to be display. However, the search engine has its own way of reading, understanding, and displaying your data and this might not work in favor of your website. Schema markup is a type of code that you put in your webpage that is like a guide that helps the search engines read, understand, and display your websites better.
Schema markup is also known as structure data because it is like instructions or guidelines for the search engine to follow. This way, the search engine will differentiate you from other websites in your category, set you apart, and make you more prominent. Plus, there are a plethora of benefits that can be unlock thanks to a schema markup.
Benefits of Schema Markup
The following benefits have been outlined by the best schema markup consultants after studying the positive impact of adding schema markups to a webpage:
Guidelines for the Search Engines
When someone tells you to do a task in which you do not have prior experience, you will be lost and most likely won’t do a good a job. However, if you are provided clear instructions to follow, you will execute that task expertly. Similarly, schema markups are a set of instructions or guidelines written in the language search engines understand, telling them about the website and its content.
Most search engines are machine learning-based, so when your website comes with structured data that speaks the machine learning language, it becomes a lot easier for the search engine to understand what your website is about, what is the content you are trying to say, and how the pages need to be displayed. Simply put, the schema markup communicates better with the search engines.
Rich Search Results on SERP
Ranking on a SERP is hard enough, but somehow, you have managed to do it. However, a web page’s link looks just like any other link, and you aren’t catching users’ attention. All that hard work will go to waste. But if the search engine displays your link richly, you are going to get a better click-through rate.
Google has 32 types of rich result displays and in your schema markup, you can set structured data that helps Google understand what type of rich display would be best suited to your website. Some displays have attractive images, while some have ratings, and some even have both, the key benefit here is that your link can stand out if you have the right schema markup.
Be AI Ready
AI is being integrate into many technologies and is also powering search engines. Machine learning is a part of AI and the structured data written by a schema markup consultant is the best way to communicate with the search engine’s machine learning and AI. Better communication results in the search engine pushing the website to the right target audience.
AI integration across search engines is already ongoing. Many users are also switching to using AI bots and assistants for their search needs, so by using schema markup in your websites, you are increasing the chances of users finding your website through AI. The AI, just like the search engine, will understand your website better and will display its content to the user.
Gain Control of Your Online Brand
One of the biggest benefits of a schema markup is the control you get over your online brand. By using the structured data, you can communicate to the search engine exactly what you want to know about your website and your brand. Having control of your online reputation and brand is one of the most important things to any business and having structured data will help you with that. If you don’t have a schema markup, the search engine will use algorithms to make assumptions about your business and display content accordingly.
Say your products are list on multiple websites along with their price. There’s a price increase and you change the prices on most websites but forget to change it on a few, and unfortunately, these unchanged prices are what some customers find through the search engine, and log on to your website to find the price higher. They will have a bad impression of your business and may even give you bad reviews online. Therefore, control can be gain through a schema markup.
Competitive Edge
If you are serious about your SEO, you are investing in on-page and off-page SEO activities. You have full-time optimizers on the payroll to boost your website on the search engine pages, and yet. You are not getting the results you want and are not able to pull ahead of your competition. That’s because your competitors are doing the same thing. They too are engaging in all the best SEO practices.
Schema markup could be the differentiator. If you create a content strategy that accounts for your content to appear as rich results. You will have a better strategy, new content ideas, and a roadmap to update your existing content. For example, if your website integrates customer reviews. Then Google can display your website’s link as a review snippet, helping it stand out and add a layer of trust owing to positive reviews. So, by adopting a schema markup, you can pull ahead of your competition.
Schema Markup is Here to Stay
Having a strong organic search ranking is great, but with schema markup. You are taking it further by getting a rich result display that will showcase other important aspects of your website that will help you stand out from the rest. So, while your competitors are still contemplating meeting a schema markup consultant. You can already start appearing on the search engines as a rich result display. Competitors will be left playing catch up as sooner or later, they too will have to adopt a schema markup.
Google has given ‘Structured Data Guidelines’ that you can follow to create a schema markup configured for your business and website, content strategy, and watch your website climb up the search rankings. A schema markup also helps you get measurable results if you take it as a serious part of your SEO strategy and continue to build and manage it.
Tru Performance has been using schema markups to boost clients’ websites and businesses ever since its implementation. From creating customized structured data for specific search engines to conducting schema markup audits. Tru Performance has been at the forefront of leveraging this innovation. Contact us to collaborate to increase the SEO potential of your website and get it rank and displayed as a rich result on the search engines.