Structured data is a markup language that makes it simpler for search engines to comprehend a website's content. As a result, structured data allows professional SEO companies to optimize their websites for improved visibility in the search engine results pages.
Structured data helps websites share essential details with search engines, such as the content type, author info, publishing date, and more. This facilitates improved web visibility for a better overall user experience.
If you're looking to improve the performance of your website, structured data implementation can be a great step forward. However, it's always best left in the hands of SEO experts with experience and knowledge. To help make this process easier for you, we have put together this comprehensive guide about how to properly implement structured data on your website.
How Structured Data Helps your SEO
Structured data alone is not a direct path to higher rankings in Google, but it has advantages. The following are four primary benefits that make structured data worth considering:
1. Get Rich Results
Rich results are search engine query answers presented in an eye-catching and informative visual format generated from structured data associated with your website. By utilizing these techniques, you can expect a marked increase in clicks and organic traffic on your pages.
2. Get into Google’s Knowledge Graph
Google's Knowledge Graph is a database of entities and their relations. Using structured data, you, your brand, and all your products can become part of this graph. The most direct benefit to getting into the Knowledge Graph is its attractive knowledge panel that provides more visibility for your brand and enhances its authority in search engine results pages (SERPs).
3. Support Semantic Search
Semantic search delves into the significance behind a user's query rather than merely matching keywords. This is why Google can give you exactly what you need despite your vagueness in wording. Structured data assists with this by helping show how your web pages are associated with the queries that users type in, thus making them appear more often for relevant searches and inquiries.
4. Support your E-A-T
The acronym E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trust – three key components Google utilizes to evaluate a web page. Through structured data feeds that transmit relevant information about your website content and authorship to the search engine, it is easier for them to appraise how accomplished your site's E-A-T level is.
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Schema Markup, the Cornerstone of Structured Data
It must adhere to a specific format to ensure search engines properly interpret structured data. Schema markup is a universally recognized format that provides a structured and organized way to present data on the web. This format is especially important for websites that want to improve their visibility in search results through organic SEO services.
Organic SEO services optimize a website's content to improve its ranking in search engine results without resorting to paid advertising. Using schema markup can help websites provide search engines with more detailed and specific information. Schema markup implementation can be complex and laborious, but it has the necessary skills to guarantee it is accomplished with fineness.
The Three Ways of Structuring Data
To organize information on the internet, you can employ three primary formats.
- JSON-LD
- Microdata
- RDFa
1. JSON-LD
Google strongly recommends JSON-LD as the preferred format for structured data, and it is also the easiest to integrate. Unlike other formats where you have to "tag" HTML elements, with JSON-LD, you only need to add a single block of code that informs Google what they should know about this page's content.
2. Microdata
Unlike JSON-LD, where structured data is in one big digestible block, Microdata is sprinkled throughout the page to mark up content on-the-fly. While this is a viable solution for basic markup, it quickly becomes difficult to manage and maintain with more complex applications. Fortunately, there are SEO plugins that will generate schema markup and do the work for you automatically.
3. RDFa
Compared to Microdata, RDFa stands out as a special schema syntax. Unlike JSON-LD, which requires all the markup elements in one block, HTML elements can be marked up individually with RDFa - making it a great choice for developers who don't want to use big blocks of code.
What's more impressive is that it was used by Facebook when producing its Open Graph meta tags. Therefore, while seeing little usage overall, you may occasionally encounter this coding structure and benefit immensely from taking advantage of it.
The Bottom Line
Structured data is an essential part of SEO. You can help your website appear in rich search results with responsive website design services and organic SEO services. By utilizing schema markup, organic SEO services can ensure that the information your website provides is properly interpreted by search engines and get into Google's Knowledge Graph.
It's essential to recognize and utilize all three primary data formats to maximize the value of your website. Structured data, however, is paramount since it allows search engines to comprehend and trust your website. In addition, correctly utilizing structured data guarantees that searchers will find you more frequently in SERPs (search engine result pages).
