What Does Schema Markup Mean?

Do you ever wonder why certain content from your website shows up on a Google search and not others? How is that specific content selected? Schema markups determine what content from your site is provided on a search engine result page (SERPs). It is used to help search engines better understand your content and in return provide more efficient search results. Schema markup highlights the most relevant information on a webpage. This article will tell you all about schema markups. Types of schema markups, markup formats, search taggings, and more will be explained. 

what is search tagging

What is Schema Markup?

Schema markup is the code that provides more informative search results. The code allows search engines to better understand the content on your webpage. Schema markups, also known as structured data, help users to communicate with search engines the meaning of their content. For example, if you include a number on your webpage, the search engine does not know what the number represents. If you utilize schema markups, it will clarify to the search engine that the number is actually a price, phone number, date, time, etc. There are many resources available to assist with schema markups. 

Schema markup is the smaller grey text beneath the webpage title on the SERP.  This is an example of what they look like in a search result. The way they appear differs based on the type of the schema markup. The above example is for recipes, but if the type was a person, it would usually appear in a box that includes important information about the person. Information included about a person can be their birthday, age, spouse, career, children, etc. 

Types of Schema Markup

There are many different types of schema markups that can be utilized for all kinds of content. These types are categorized by a set of properties. Additionally, the code for each type differs. Commonly used types include creative works, events, health/medical, organization, place, local business, restaurant, recipe, person, and review. For example, a recipe schema markup could include the ingredients, the cooking time and temperature, the calories, serving size, and its rating. 

How Does Schema Help SEO?

Although schema markups do not directly correlate to your SEO rankings, it is overall beneficial. Using schema markups results in a SERP displaying a web page’s information with a rich snippet. This is an organic search result that is more in-depth than a standard result. They can include graphics, reviews, or additional data. This makes your website more attractive on SERPs. Rich snippets have a positive impact on click-through-rates.

A major benefit of using schema markups is the clarification they provide to web crawlers. This is the algorithm used for search engines that runs through the websites and analyzes the data. After using the algorithm to find what data matches the search, the web crawlers provide the content on the SERPs. Schema markups clearly tell the web crawlers what data is on the website, allowing for an accurate description of website content. This produces more efficient search results. 

Schema markups provide information to the users without having them click on the webpage. It gives users a brief overview of the content available on the webpage. Based on this brief overview, users will decide if they want to visit the site. Schema markups can tell users if this webpage will be helpful without having to visit the webpage.  If you include the correct information in your markups, you will be improving the user experience.

how does schema markup help seo

What is Schema.org?

Schema.org is a collaborative effort to have an inclusive vocabulary for all search engines. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex combined efforts to create the Schema.org vocabulary. This shared vocabulary simplified the process for webmasters and developers to use a schema and receive the largest benefit possible. Schema.org’s vocabulary is compatible with Microdata, RDFa, and JSON-LD. The vocabulary currently consists of 778 types of schema markups. The website details each type and how to create the markup for it.

If you markup your website, Schema.org is a necessary resource. It provides countless amounts of information about schemas and how to use them properly.  

The Three Markup Formats

Next, we will talk about the three different format options available: microdata, RDFa, and JSON-LD. 

Microdata

Microdata is an open-community HTML specification. It uses HTML tag attributes to name the data you want to markup. Search engines are able to interpret and analyze the data embedded in documents with HTML.

RDFa

RDFa (Resource Description Framework in Attributes) is an extension of HTML5. Similar to microdata, it uses HTML tag attributes. It can also be used in XML documents, SVG documents, HTML4, XHTML1 and XHTML5 documents. RDFa assists in marking up website content. 

JSON-LD

JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a linked data format. It is fairly easy to use because it does not require HTML formatting. It annotates and structures the data on a webpage. This simplifies the process for search engines, resulting in more specific search results. JSON-LD is Google’s recommended format.

schema markup generators

What is Search Tagging?

All types of tags are used within the code of a website to provide information about the site to the search engine. Learn about meta tags, title tags, meta description tags, and search tagging below.

Meta Tags

First, meta tags are used to tell search engines what the website is about and then use that to rank the website. The meta tag is embedded in the HTML. Users are typically unaware of them. 

Title Tags

Next are title tags. These state the title of the webpage and can be found in the HTML. The title tag is the clickable part of the website in the SERP. They are extremely important because it is what the user first reads about the website. Users can decide from the title if they want to continue to the webpage or not. 

Meta Description Tags

Meta description tags are once again part of the HTML. They give a quick overview of the website. You will want to include any important information about the page that is not included in the title in this section.

Search Taggings

Search tags are the words that people mainly use when using a search engine to look something up. The more search tags you add to your site, the more exposure your company receives on a search engine. Search tagging is beneficial because it is increasing the rank of your company. The more tags you are adding, the more attractive your website becomes to users.

what is search tagging

Easy to Use Schema Generators

There are many sites available to simplify the schema markup process. Here we will highlight just four of them.

Google Structured Data Markup Helper

Google offers a Structured Data Markup Helper to assist Google users in marking up their webpages. This resource helps users but also helps themselves. By helping users mark up their web pages, it is becoming easier for Google to understand the content and data on those web pages. This allows Google to provide more accurate results on the SERP. 

The Structured Data Markup Helper also offers to mark up emails that contain certain data types, such as event, flight, hotel, restaurant, and car rental reservations. To start tagging, you simply have to select if you are marking up an email or website. Next, you chose the type of data you will be marking up. Lastly, you tag the data and view the HTML.

Hall Analysis Schema Markup Generator 

The Hall Analysis Schema Markup Generator offers a schema markup generator in the JSON-LD format. It allows you to choose between six types of markups. You can choose local business, person, product, event, organization, or website. Next, the site generates the JSON-LD, which you have to add to the <head> section of your HTML document.  

Microdata Generator.com

Finally, Microdata Generator.com is another generator you can use. This site only creates schema markups for local business. Again, it is a fairly simple process to create the markup. The website prompts a few questions that need to be answered before it can be created.

Merkle Schema Markup Generator

Merkle Schema Markup Generator creates markups in the JSON-LD or microdata formats. This site offers thirteen types of schema markups that can be generated. Similar to other markup generators, you must answer a few questions about the markup you are creating.

what does schema markeup mean

Why You Should Add Schema Markups to Your Website

Schema markups simplify the process for web crawlers. They make the website content readable to these crawlers and search engines. This allows search engines to provide results that fit the search more accurately. Using schema markups results in the use of rich snippets. This will increase the click-through-rates of your website and will make your website more attractive.

However, despite the benefits of using schema markups, only about 30% of websites utilize them. Since only one-third of websites are using schema markups, it is a missed opportunity for many companies. Do not be one of the companies that misses this opportunity to improve your website and its SEO.

FAQs about Schema Markup:

  • How important is schema markup for SEO?
  • What is the purpose of schema markup?
  • What are the benefits of search taggings?
  • Are there any tools available to help me add schema markups to my website?
  • What is Schema.org?

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