schema

Structured Data- The What and Why.

We can all agree that reading something which has the important details highlighted is so much easier and so much fun than otherwise. Similarly when you highlight the important details of your website, it becomes easier for Search Engine to comprehend and utilize them. Highlighting creates structure and by implementing these Structured Data, you consolidate your chance of success. Before we go to the How-To part, let’s first understand what Structured Data means for your website.

Structure Data serve the same purpose that a highlighter serves when it comes to documents- making the most important piece of information stand out, thus assisting the process of comprehension. While you use some sort of tools to highlight the document, when we talk about a website, we make use of certain codes for this purpose and this is what we call Structured Data in the website.

Search Engines make use of AI bots to process and comprehend the information that you provide through your website. These bots or crawlers pick up the content from your website’s code and the Search Engine assesses the information. While these bots can clearly read the various components of your website, by incorporating Structured Data, you add some sort of structure and organization which make their work easier.

Adding Structured Data means you, in a way, assist the AI bots in picking up the information in a systematic and organized manner. Thus, instead of randomly running and possibly confusing important details with subsidiary ones and missing out on those, you set a systematic and organized structure for the work.

Why Do I Need Structured Data?

Now you might be thinking ‘Oh I get what Structured Data means, but why do I need it? How does it help? Here’s why.

The information that you have on your website, by default, is not organized and structured. When contents are unstructured, the Search Engine Bots do not know anything about the type of content and what needs to picked up, making it difficult for them to locate relevant information.

However, when you utilize schema markup or structured data to clearly mention the type and relevancy of data, things change a lot. The bots can easily locate and distinguish the necessary information from the other parts of the content. This in a way favours the Search Engine’s process, fulfilling their need for clearly outlined data. When you do this to your website, you are immediately distinguished from many who don’t, thus improving your ranking prospects.

You make it easier for Search Engine to pickup useful information and show it to the customers in the form of featured snippets. When the customers are satisfied with the data you provide, you make it clear for Search Engine to consider your website for better rankings. Thus, long story short, if you want to add up to your chances of better rankings, using structured data is something you cannot ignore.

Using Structured Data- The How-to.

Now that you know what Structured Data means and why you need to incorporate these into your website for better performance, let’s now talk about the most important thing- the How-to of adding Structured Data to your website.

Before you get started with making the changes in the codes, I recommend going through Google’s Guidelines for Structured Data. This will inform you about the different aspects of it- from the basic terminologies to the in-depth guidelines for the process. You will have a basic ground to work on and you will know the dos and don’ts.

By now, you and I know that you need to work on the code of your website to incorporate structured data. Doing it manually means ensuring proper attention to the intricacies of the code. However, to your aid, there are several tools and plugins that can assist you in making the required changes.

Google Search Console

From checking the index status to monitoring and improving the visibility of your website, Google Search Console, earlier known as Google Webmaster, is an effective free tool from Google to monitor and regulate the internal of your website. Through this you can easily manage the structured data in your website and also on the featured snippets.

Data Highlighter Tool

Another free tool from Google, Data Highlighter helps you in highlighting and labelling the data fields in your website. You can categorize the type of data which will help the Search Engine in picking up specific details.

Data Markup Helper

To ensure that you have edited and formatted your website correctly, make use of Google’s Data Testing Tool that will provide you a report of the Structured Data that you have used. All you need to do is copy and paste the code of the webpage in the tool and you will be provided with the related feedback on it. You can use the feedback to act accordingly and make further adjustments. When you are satisfied with the final version of the code, use it in your website.

WordPress Plugins

Whether it’s WP Rich Snippets or All In One Schema.org, the developers have created free plugins that can help you create markup codes for specific schemas. You don’t need to do any manual work for generating schema snippets. Besides, you also get a preview of the featured snippets in your website.

Structured Data Testing Tool

To ensure that you have edited and formatted your website correctly, make use of Google’s Data Testing Tool that will provide you a report of the Structured Data that you have used. All you need to do is copy and paste the code of the webpage in the tool and you will be provided with the related feedback on it. You can use the feedback to act accordingly and make further adjustments. When you are satisfied with the final version of the code, use it in your website.

Expert Assistance for Structured Data

The factors considered for Search Engine Rankings are regularly updated. If you want to stay on top of the search results, you need to stay updated. Having a website with properly structured data is paramount. While it may seem like a lot to do, you cannot ignore this aspect. There are several free tools to assist you with the process. However, if you feel like doing it yourself is too much and you don’t want to play with the codes, you always have the option to get expert guidance. Talking of expert guidance, SEO Expert Abhi is the best place to be.