What Is Structured Data And How to Implement It - WordLift Blog

Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying that content on the page; for example, on a recipe page, ... WhatIsStructuredDataAndHowtoImplementIt Inthecontextofsearch,structureddataareapredefinedschema,helpingsearchenginesbetterunderstandandclassifytheinformationprovidedonawebpage,thusmakingitmoreaccessibletomachines.ThatcanalsobeusedasanSEOmarketingtechniquetoimproveyourtraffic. YoucanalsoreadourSEOWebStory👉 “StructuredDataforSEO“ Whatisstructureddata? Structureddataisastandardizedformatforprovidinginformationaboutapageandclassifyingthatcontentonthepage;forexample,onarecipepage,theingredients,thecookingtime,thetemperature,thecalories,andsoon.Source:DevelopersGoogle.com Structureddataisawaytomakeyourwebsitespeakinthesamelanguageasthesearchengines,sotheycaneasilyunderstandwhatyou’retalkingabout.Todothis,youneedavocabularytotranslateyourcontentintoinformationthatGoogleandothersearchenginescanunderstand.ThevocabularyusedbythebigsearchenginesisSchema.org,whichyoucanusetostructurethemetadataonyourwebsiteandtohelpsearchenginesunderstandyourpublishedcontent. Whenthesearchengineunderstandsthecontentofyourwebpage,thenitcanserveittotheappropriatesearchqueries,providinguserswithrelevantandhelpfulinformationabouttheirsearch.Searchenginescanusestructureddatainso-calledrichsnippetstoenhancetheuser’sexperience. Forexample,ifyouhavearecipewebsite,byaddingstructureddatatoyourwebsite,thecontentontheGoogleresultspagemightlooklikethis: Whatisstructureddatavsunstructureddata? Structureddataiscreatedusingapredefined(fixed)schemaandistypicallyorganizedinatableformat.Thinkofatablewhereeachcellcontainsadiscretevalue.Theschemarepresentstheoutlineofhowthedataisorganized,thetableheaderrowusedtodescribethevalue,andtheformatofeachcolumn.Theschemaalsoimposestheconstraintsnecessarytomakethedataconsistentandcomputable. Anexampleofstructureddataistherelationaldatabase:tablesarelinkedusinguniqueIDs,andaquerylanguagesuchasSQLisusedtointeractwiththedata. Ontheotherhand,unstructureddatacancomeinmanyforms:fromwebpagestoemails,fromblogstosocialmediaposts,etc.80%ofthedatawehaveisknowntobeunstructured.Regardlessoftheformatusedtostorethedata,wearetalking,inmostcases,abouttextualdocumentsmadeupofsequencesofwords. Structureddataisthebestwayforcomputerstointeractwithinformation.That’swhyit’sessentialforSEO:byaddingstructureddatatoyourwebsitecontent,youallowGoogleandothersearchenginestounderstandwhatyou’retalkingaboutandshowyourwebsiteamongthetopresultstouserssearchingforbusinesseslikeyours.  Whydoyouneedstructureddata? InSEO,structureddataeffectivelypassesessentialinformationonawebpagetosearchengines.Inparticular,inarecentupdate,Googleclarified: Contentinstructureddataiseligiblefordisplayasrichresultsinsearch. Inshort,thesearchenginecanprovideadditionalfeaturesonthesearchresultspagesthatwillenhancethevisibilityofyourcontent.Forinstance,whenaskedaboutstructureddata,thatishowthesearchenginemightextractcontentfromawebpage,andplaceitintoananswerbox,calledafeaturedsnippet: ExampleofafeaturedsnippetcomingfromtheWordLiftblog,thatwiththehelpofstructureddatahelpsthesearchengineextractcriticalinformation.Thissortoffeaturehasahighclick-throughrate.Itmeansthatalargenumberofusersfindingitwilllandonyourwebsitethanksto betterrealestateonGoogle’spages.  AmongotherGoogleadvancedfeaturesenabledbystructureddata,thereisaKnowledgePanel: AKnowledgePanelisavisualizationthatappearsontopofsearchresults(onmobile)orontherightsideofthem(ondesktop)whichprovidesauthoritativeinformationaboutanyentityorconcept.Structureddatahelpstriggerthisfeature,byenablingGoogletopullcriticaldatafromyourwebpages,thusmakingyourbrandmorevisibleonitssearchresults.  Otherrichelementstriggeredbystructureddataareeventsnippets,whichcanpullupcriticalinformationforaneventdirectlyonthesearchresults,thusmakingyourbrandthemostauthoritativeonthatspecificevent.Bycreatinganassociationinthemindofusersbetweenthateventandyourbrand: Exampleofaneventsnippet.Wecreatedaneventpagebymappingoursoftwaretopassessentialinformationabouttheevent.Thesearchenginewastakenasanauthoritativesourceofinformationonthatspecificevent. Howdoyougeneratestructureddata? Togeneratestructureddataandaddthemtoyourwebsite,youcan:  addthecodemanuallytothepagesofyoursite;useadedicatedplugin,butitstillrequiresmanualchoices;chooseWordLiftandfullyautomatetheprocess. Inthefirstcase,youknowhowtoworkwithcode,andthenyouknowhowtocreateandaddstructureddatatoyourwebsitemanually. Inthesecondcase,thesepluginsdonotrequiretechnicalknowledgeincodebutstillneedanunderstandingofSEOandsemanticmarkup.Whilethismakesyourworkeasier,ontheotherhand,itexcludesyoufromusingstructureddataifyoudonothavetheproperknowledge.Inmanycases,youhavetocheckthecontentandcompletetherequiredfields.Whilefast,thissolutioncontinuestoaskforextrawork. WordLiftsolvesthislimitationandallowsyoutoaddstructureddatatoyourwebsiteevenifyouarenotanSEOexpert.Artificialintelligenceanalyzesyourcontentandautomaticallysuggeststhattheentitiesmarkyourwebsite,indicatingthebesttypeofpropertytoassigntoit.Theprocessisspeedy,theinterfaceissimpletouse,andanyonecangetstarted.Finally,unlikeotherplugins,withWordLift,youcanaccessthesametechnologyusedbyenterprisecustomerswithanysubscription. Howdoyouaddstructureddatatoyourwebsite? StructureddataonthewebusesSchema.orgasareferencevocabularyandcanbeembeddedinwebpagesusingvariousonlinetools,includingGoogle’sStructuredDataMarkupHelper,ordirectlyaddingthecodetoyourwebpages.  Youcanusedifferentformatstoaddinformationtoyourwebcontentimplementingtheschema.orgvocabulary,suchasJSON-LD,MicrodataandRDFa. Source:DevelopersGoogle.com IfyouareusingWordPress,youcanuseWordLift:apluginforWordPressthathelpscontenteditorsandwebsiteownersmarkuptheircontentwithschema.orgmarkupwithoutrequiringanytechnicalskills.Thankstonaturallanguageprocessing,WordLiftdoesitautomatically. Howdoyouteststructureddata? Totestthestructureddataonyourwebsite,youcanusetheSchemaMarkupValidatorTool. Tovalidateyourstructureddata,andinsomecases,previewingafeatureinGoogleSearch,youcanuseGoogleRichResultsTest.  HowdoesGoogleusestructureddata?  Googleusesstructureddatatounderstandthepage’scontentandgatherinformationaboutthewebandtheworldingeneral.Googlecollectsthisinformationaboutpeople,placesandthingsandbuildsaKnowledgeGraphtocreateinterconnectedsearchresultsthataremoreaccurateandrelevant. Inthisway,Googlebetterunderstandsusersearchesandinformationandintelligentlyconnectsthetwoworlds.  TolearnmoreaboutGoogleKnowledgeGraphandhowitworks,watchthisvideo:  WhatisJSON-LDandhowdoesitrelatetoStructuredData? JSON-LDisoneofthreeformatstoaddstructureddatausingtheschema.orgvocabularytoyourwebsitecontent.  TheadvantagesofusingJSON-LDtowritestructureddatacomparedtootherformatslikemicrodataarethefollowing: Itdoesnotaffecttheperformanceofthepagebecauseitcanbeloadedasynchronously;ItisinjectedintothepagewithoutimpactingtheexistingHTMLstructureandtags;ItiseasytobereusedbywebdevelopersasitfollowstheJSONsyntax;Itleverageslinkeddata. ThatisalsowhyGoogleincentiveswebsiteownerstousestructureddataonawebpageinJSON-LD.Thisformatallowsentities,therefore,conceptstobecomelinked. TherearevariouspluginstoincludeSchema.orgJSON-LDsyntaxmarkuptoyourwebsite.WordLiftisoneoftheseoptionsthatautomaticallyaddsthesetagsbasedontheanalysisofthecontent.WordLiftusesNaturalLanguageProcessingtoextractnamedentitiesproposedtotheeditortotagcontent.TheseentitieshaveuniqueIDs(uniqueresourceidentifiers)inthewebofdata.WiththeseIDs,WordLiftextractstheinformationandautomaticallyinjectsitintothewebpagesusingJSON-LD.  EntitiesrelatedtoSTRUCTUREDDATA AI Googlesearch JSON-LD knowledgegraph linkeddata Microdata RDFa richsnippet schemamarkup SEO MustReadContent WhyDoWeNeedKnowledgeGraphs?LearnwhataknowledgegraphbringstoSEOwithTeodoraPetkova 2xYourVideoSEOin3SimpleStepsUsevideostoincreasetraffictoyourwebsites SEOAutomationin2021ImprovetheSEOofyourwebsitethroughArtificialIntelligence ThePowerofProductKnowledgeGraphforE-commerceDivedeepintothepowerofdatafore-commerce TouchyourSEO:IntroducingPhysicalSEOConnectaphysicalproducttotheecosystemofdataontheweb AreyoureadyforthenewSEO?TryWordLiftnow! Free14-daytrial Name EmailAddress Chooseyourpreferredlanguage English Italian LearnhowtousestructureddatatogetbetterSEOrankings.PracticalSEOtips,webinars,andcasestudiesrightinyourinboxonceaweek. Joinus! Congratsyouarein! Standoutonsearchin2019.Get50%offWordLiftuntilJanuary7thBuyNow! x