Does the term Schema markup mean anything to you? In Hungarian, we call it structured data, which helps Google’s search robots understand the content of your website. This article will help you understand how using Schema data helps with search engine optimisation for your business.

Martha van Berkel told brightlocal.com about her experiences.

Today, when you need information about a shop or business, you’ll almost certainly find the answer to your questions in an online search. Whether you’re looking for Apple customer service’s phone number, curious about the weather in Budapest, or need information about a particular cake, you type it into the search engine and “boom”, the information is right there in front of you without you having to click to another website. So, often, interested parties don’t even reach the business’s own website, as the information they’re looking for is right there in Google search. Essentially, businesses may have lost control in Google in this regard.

For example, if I search for Apple customer service’s phone number on Google, I see this in the results:

The same applies to the weather in Budapest:

Even the fibre and nutrient content of foods can be viewed this way:

So you don’t have to click on the website of the shop you’re looking for to find the information you need. The question arises, why do we spend long hours editing the content and graphics of our business website? After all, a large proportion of interested parties don’t click through to our own platform. That’s why it’s important to take control and show search engines who’s boss.

How? It’s very simple! You have to speak their language. And this language is called structured data!

What is Schema markup?

What does structured data mean? Schema markup (sometimes also called structured data markup) is the language of search engines. The vocabulary created by Google, Yahoo, and the less well-known Bing and Yandex search engines in Hungary, was created as a global standard vocabulary to help better understand web content. To translate your own content into the language of Schema markup, you need to answer one question: “What does my page offer to interested parties?”. Once you describe which page it is, you can select the Schema markup class, like a definition. Once you’ve mapped all this out, you need to enter this Schema data into your website’s code. The Schema method code can be found in different formats: Microdata, JSON-LD and RDFa.

Schema markup and structured data code types
To review the types of Schema markup, see this list directly from Google:

Nowadays, Google prefers JSON-LD markup. Here’s an example of a JSON-LD Schema:

Are you scared of codes now? You don’t have to worry about that, as there are many tools that help businesses with Schema modification without having to write codes. In fact, there are more than sixty tools for Schema markup.

Structured data

or “rich results”

Businesses that use Schema markup are known as “rich results” in search. This means that a lot of information pops up about them in the search engine, but for details, you definitely have to go to their own page. These “rich results” range from product information, product reviews, stock information and ratings to local business information, actions, and information panels on the right side of the screen.
Specifically for local businesses, Google has created Local Business Offers and Local Actions. The Local Business listing is very similar to Google My Business information. Local Action allows the user to maintain search results.

Google’s developments have accelerated since the adoption of Schema markup. In 2017, we saw 10 new announced features, and countless others that were never officially advertised, such as health information graphs and best answer features. In addition to the new features, we’ve seen over 50 updates recently in Google’s documentation and the Schema.org vocabulary.
Here’s an example of case studies that show how structured data and “rich results” help increase engagement and online clicks. The numbers are convincing:

• 25% higher click-through rate on marked pages
• 35% increase in recipe page views
• 1.5% more time spent on pages and 3.6x higher interaction rate
• 82% higher click-through rate to “rich” results pages
• 20% more clicks to pages with Schema markup

We’ve seen an increase in the time spent on the given page, a decrease in bounce rate, and an increase in purchases. This means that people who found the page in the search engine wanted to learn more or buy.

So it’s clear: Schema markup improves SEO and business metrics
If all this is not enough to motivate you to optimise your website with Schema, perhaps the fact that Schema coding will be based on voice searches in the future will convince you. According to ComScore, by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice-based searches performed by online “assistants”.
If you now think that the 2020s are still far away and you don’t have to worry about it yet, think again! Google recently announced that in the future, it will partner with companies like LG, Lenovo, and Sony. The devices they manufacture will be capable of performing voice-based searches, which will be controlled by so-called “assistants”.

What does this mean for local SEO?

This means that whether you like it or not, you need to start optimising for search engines. The good news is that if you add structured data to your website, Google will automatically offer the marked data to the “assistants'” search engine, so customers will still find your website after the developments.

Getting started with Schema markup

Use our solution to easily generate structured data!

1. To get started, first be sure to provide your business name, address, and description.
2. Use detailed Schema markup that accurately describes what type of local business it is, and if possible, use Wikipedia pages to make it even more specific.
3. Then, add the completed markup to your business website.

The first step is roughly that simple. Of course, for more complex structured data entry and generation, you will need a developer who can generate the appropriate data.
When creating Schema markup, always use accurate data and provide as much markup as possible to the search robots. If you offer services, you should define yourself as a service provider organisation, and if you are a manufacturer, for example, then as a manufacturer. After optimising the homepage, it is worth adding the markup to the Contact tab as well, as this is usually one of the most visited subpages. It is worth using the guide for local business Schema markup, which guides the user through the steps.
In 2018, one of the most important SEO steps is the use of structured data. Now is the time to use this great solution to attract even more interested parties to your website. And if you feel you can’t tackle creating your site’s Schema markup alone, feel free to contact us!