What Is Structured Data? | Why Is It Important For SEO?

Structured data, otherwise known as schema markup, is often referred to as the "language of search engines." It's an authoritative vocabulary that makes it ... FREETECHNICALSEOANALYSISStartCreateFreeAccountLoginHuckabuyCustomerStats225.6m184ms48.32%ProductResourcesDevelopersAboutHomepage/HuckabuyCloud/StructuredDataBeginnersGuidetoStructuredDataSEOIfyou'reamarketer,SEO,orsomeonethatsimplywantstoimprovetheirGoogleSearchpresence,thenthisshortguideisforyou.Inthisarticle,we'llexplainwhatSEOis,whyyoushouldconsideritvitaltoyouronlineorganicgrowthstrategy,andhelpyouunderstandsomeoftheassociatedterminologies.Whatisstructureddata?Structureddata,otherwiseknownasschemamarkup,isoftenreferredtoasthe"languageofsearchengines."It’sanauthoritativevocabularythatmakesiteasierforsearchenginestocontextualize,understand,andaccuratelymatchwebsitecontenttorelevantsearchqueries.Whatisthedifferencebetweenstructureddataandunstructureddata?Thedifferenceissimpleandintuitive.Structureddataisorganizeddata,whereasunstructureddataisunorganizeddata.Thefollowingsentenceisagoodexampleofunstructureddata:"JohnSmithisaSoftwareEngineerforSalesforce."Thereader,whetheritisahumanorrobot,isrequiredtoindependentlyclassifyallofthisinformation.Structureddata,bycontrast,wouldorganizeallofthesepropertiesandtypesaheadoftime.Forexample,"JohnSmith"isthename,"SoftwareEngineer"ishisrole,and"Salesforce"ishiscompany.WhyisStructuredDataImportantForSEO?Theinternetisgrowinginsizeandcomplexityeveryday.YetGooglecontinuestohavelimitedtimeandresourcestopursueitsmissionoforganizingtheworld'sinformationinaneasilyaccessibleandusefulway.Itstillstrugglestoservethemostrelevantandhelpfullinkstoeachqueryinitssearchengine.StructureddataisimportantforSEObecauseithelpsGoogleservethismissionmoreefficiently.Aspreviouslymentioned,structureddatahelpsasearchengineunderstandyourcontentbetter,whichinturnhelpsthemrankyourcontentmoreaccurately.Thishelpsthempresentmoreinformationdirectlyontheresultspageintheformofrichsnippets.NotonlydoyouimprovetheexperienceoftheSearchBot,butyouimprovetheuserexperienceaswellbyimprovingtheresultspagewithmoreaccuracyandmoreinformationforthemtoresolvetheirqueriesfaster.TheAdvantagesofStructuredData:Searchenginesunderstandallthepartsofyourbusiness,yourbrand,andyourcontentbetter.Searchenginesmatchcontentmoreaccuratelytorelevantsearchresults.Searchenginesincludemoreinformationonthesearchresultspageforyourcontent,likecookingtimefromarecipepage,locationfromaneventpage,orareviewfromacustomersuccesspage.TheseimprovementshelpGooglebuildabetter,moreaccurateknowledgegraphandknowledgepanelaboutyourbrand.Theseimprovementscanleadtomorerankingkeywordsbecausesearchenginesassociateyourcontentwithmoretopicsandsub-topics.Theseimprovementscanleadtomoreorganicimpressionsandorganicclicksbecausesearchfeatureslikerichresultshelpyourcontentstandoutinsearchandresolvequeriesfaster.HowStructuredDataImprovesOn-SERPSEOOn-SERPSEOistheorganicchannelstrategyofcoveringasmuchrealestateaspossibleonthefirstsearchresultspagesforanyofyourtargetkeywordsinordertocapturetheattentionandclicksofyourtargetaudience.ThisisdonebyqualifyingforapplicableSERPfeatures,likeGoogleAds,FeaturedSnippets,ImagePacks,andFAQs,inadditiontorankingashighlyaspossible.StructureddataimprovesOn-SERPSEObyqualifyingyourcontentforover30richresults,alsoreferredtoasrichsnippets,thatmaximizethefunctionalityandvisibilityofyourlinkswithmoreactionable,appealing,anddetailedinformationembeddeddirectlyinthesearchresults.ToseetheimpactinGooglesearch,goSearchConsoleandunderPerformance>SearchAppearance,youcanviewabreakdownofalltherichresulttypeslike"How-Tos"and"FAQs"andseetheorganicimpressionsandclickstheydroveforyourcontent.Wantthesebenefitsforyourwebsite?TryourWorld-ClassAutomatedStructuredData.BookaDemoIsStructuredDataaRankingFactor?StructureddataisnotarankingfactorYET,butitishighlyrecommendedbyGoogledevelopersandindirectlyhelpsyourwebsiteimproverankings.Toreiterate,bypresentinginformationinamachine-readablecontext,SearchBotsareabletounderstandthemeaningofyourpages,matchcontentwithmorerelevantqueries,anddisplayapplicablerichresultsaswell.Theseallhaveindirecteffectsonrankingfactorslikeclick-throughrateanddirecttrafficbecauseGoogleusesthedatatoputyourlinksinfrontofmorequalifiedaudiencesandthoselinksareenhancedbyfeatureslikeFAQs,ratings,andreviewsthathelpcustomerssolvetheirqueriesfasterandenticevisitstoyourpages.Regardlessoftherankingquestion,ifyourgoalistoincreasevisibilityintheSERPsandindirectlyinfluencerankings,itisacriticalassettohaveonyourwebsite.WhatisSchema.org?Schema.orgisacommunityfoundedbythefourmajorsearchengines-Google,Microsoft,Yahoo,andYandex-withtheintentionofbuildingabettersemanticwebbycollaborativelydevelopingschemavocabulariesforstructureddatamarkupacrosstheinternet.Acommonlyusedvocabularyintheformofschema.orgtypesandpropertiesmakesiteasyformarketersandwebsitedeveloperstoparticipateinthisinitiative.HowDoYouImplementStructuredData?Inorderforstructureddatatobeeffectiveandrecognizedbysearchengines,andspecificallybyGoogle(international/worldwidemarketshareof87%),thestructureddatamarkupmustdescribethepagecontentandincludeinformationthatisvisibletotheuser.ThereareanumberofwaysthatstructureddatamarkupcanbeimplementedonapagebuttherecommendedformatisviaJSON-LD.JSON-LDisnotmeanttobeseenbyhumans–itisdesignedforsearchengines.JSONisthetextformatandLDstandsforlinkeddatathatallowsyoutoexpressdatainawaythatismoreprecisetotheindividualentities.Thinkofitasabook.It’swritteninawayyoucanmapobjectsoverpages.Thereisnoparsing,guesswork,orfilteringthatneedstobedonebysearchengines.Everythingisveryexplicit–whatyousaymeansonlywhatyousay.It’sthecleanestwaytocommunicateandthat’swhyGoogleprefersitandrecommendsittoSEOs.Thereareothermethods,includingmicrodata,microformats,andRDFA,butthesealternativesaremixedinwithcontentshowntouserswhichcancomplicatethegoalsofexpressingdatatosearchenginesandprovidingatop-notchuserexperience.Forthealternatives,likemicroformats,it’slikeaddingsubtitlesorcreatingtranscriptionstosomethingsomebodywroteandhidingitintheHTMLforGoogletoextractanddecipher.JSON-LDvsMicrodata:WhichTypeofStructuredDataShouldIUse?GooglesupportsbothJSON-LDandMicrodatastructures.JSON-LD,amorelightweightsolution,isGoogle'spreferreddataformat.Fromourperspective—andGoogle’s—there’saclearwinner:JSON-LD.It’sthemostelegantandlightweightsolutionforstructureddatamarkup.JSON-LDisaJavascriptnotationthatannotateswebcontentandcanbetemplatedacrosswebpages,makingiteasytoadd,edit,andremove.It’snotmixedinwithuser-visibletext,andthere’snoneedtoalterexistingHTMLtags—simplyaddJSON-LDtothescripttaginyourpageheadorbody.ExampleofhowJSON-LDappears:MicrodataisawaytolabelvariousHTMLelementsonapageusingmachine-readabletags.BecausemicrodataisembeddedwithintheHTMLsourcecodeofawebpage,ittakesmoretimetoimplementandismoredifficulttoeditandremove.ExampleofhowMicrodataappears:AdditionalToolsandResourcesforStructuredDataWanttodivedeeperintostructureddata?We’vecompiledourfavoritelearningresources,tips,andSEOtoolstotestyourstructureddataandlearnmoreaboutthebasicsoftheimplementationprocess. GoogleStructuredDataTestingTool GoogleStructuredDataMarkupHelper GoogleRichResultsTestingTool GoogleCodelabStructuredDataTutorial GoogleGuide:UnderstandHowStructuredDataWorksSchema.orgHuckabuyStructuredDataStructuredDataFrequentlyAskedQuestionsWhatisstructureddata?Structureddata,otherwiseknownasschemamarkup,isoftenreferredtoasthe"languageofsearchengines".It’sanauthoritativevocabularythatmakesiteasierforsearchenginestocontextualize,understand,andaccuratelymatchwebsitecontenttorelevantsearchqueries.Whatisstructureddatausedfor?Atahighlevel,searchengineslikeGooglerelyonstructureddatatounderstandyourcontent,yourwebsite,andyourbusiness.Mostnotably,structureddataqualifiesyourcontentforrichresults-aneworganicsearchfeaturethatembedsextrainformation,likefrequentlyaskedquestions,ratings,andreviewsalongsidethestandardbluelinktoyourwebpageinsearchresults.Whatisthedifferencebetweenunstructuredandstructureddata?Structureddataiscreatedusingapredefinedschemaandisorganizedinaclear,tabularformat.Similartoatable,thedataisdefinedbyaclearstructurewhereeachlineofdatacorrespondswithaspecifiedvalue.Mostoftheinternetisunstructureddata.Thinkemail,textfiles,images.Dataisconsideredunstructuredwhenitdoesn’tconformtoapredefinedtabularformatwithclearinputcategories.Howdoyouimplementstructureddata?ThereareanumberofwaysthatstructureddatamarkupcanbeimplementedonapagebuttherecommendedformatisviaJSON-LD.ItisendorsedbyGoogleanddesignedspecificallyforsearchengines.Thereareothermethods,includingmicrodata,microformats,andRDFA,butthesealternativesaremixedinwithcontentshowntouserswhichcancomplicatethegoalsofexpressingdatatosearchenginesandprovidingtop-notchuserexperience.Whatarethebenefitsofstructureddata?Searchenginesunderstandallthepartsofyourbusiness,yourbrand. Searchenginesunderstandyourcontentbetterandmatchcontentmoreaccuratelytorelevantsearchresults.Searchenginesincludemoreinformationonthesearchresultspageforyourcontent,likecookingtimefromarecipepage,locationfromaneventpage,orareviewfromacustomersuccesspage.Searchenginesbuildabetter,moreaccurateknowledgegraphandknowledgepanelaboutyourbrand.Morerankingkeywordsbecausesearchenginesassociateyourcontentwithmoretopicsandsub-topics.Moreorganicimpressionsandorganicclicksbecausesearchfeatureslikerichresultshelpyourcontentstandoutinsearchandresolvequeriesfaster.StructuredDataGlossaryHTMLHypertextmarkuplanguage.HTMLcontrolshowawebpageisstructured(headings,paragraphs,etc.)andwhatitsays(text).JavascriptAcomputerprogramminglanguageusedtocreateinteractive/dynamicactiononawebsite.JSON-LDJavaScriptobjectnotationforlinkeddata.Google’spreferredformatforstructureddata.KnowledgeGraphInthecontextofSEO,aknowledgegraphpullsinformationfromavarietyofsources,suchastheCIAWorldFactBookandWikipedia,andpresentstheminknowledgepanelslocatedonthetherighthandrailofsearchresultspages.MicrodataAwayofannotatingHTMLelementswithmachine-readabletags,microdataisanothertypeofformatforstructureddata.OpenGraphIntegrateswebsitecontentwithsocialmediaplatforms,likeFacebookandTwitter,bytaggingcontentsuchthatitcanbepresentedandsharedinanativeformatalongsideotherobjectsonthoseplatforms.RDFaResourcedescriptionframeworkinattributes.Anotherformatforstructureddata.RichcardsAseparateresult,oftenwithvisualenhancements,appearsatthetopofasearchresultspage.RichresultsAnumbrellatermthatincludesalltypesofsearchresultfeaturesandenhancements.RichsnippetsAnytypeoforganicsearchresultlistingwithenhancedinformationdisplayedalongsidetheurl,title,anddescription.Sometimesusedinterchangeablywith"richresults".SchemamarkupAnotherwayofsayingstructureddata.Schema.orgAnextensivelabelingsystem,createdbythemajorsearchenginesin2011,thatstandardizeshowwebcontentismarkedup.Thissharedvocabularymakeswebsiteseasierforsearchenginestounderstand.SearchbotsSearchenginecrawlers(alsoknownasspiders)thatgothroughtheInternettofindcontent.Eachsearchenginehasitsownnameforitsbots:Googlebot,Bingbot,etc.SERPSearchengineresultspages.StructureddataEndorsedbyGoogle,structureddataisthelanguageofsearchengines.Itexplicitlytellsthemwhatisonawebpagesotheycanproperlyunderstandandcontextualizecontent.StructuredDataArticlesStructuredData&Schema.orgWhatisstructureddataandschema.org?Schema.orgisacommunityfoundedonJune2,2011byGoogle,Microsoft,Yahoo,andYandexwiththeinitiativeofcollaborativelydevelopingschemavocabulariesforstructureddatamarkuponwebpages,emails,theinternet,andmore.Thissharedvocabularycreateseaseformarketingandwebsitedeveloperstomaximizetheireffortsandthebenefitsofthoseefforts.Whatarethebenefitsandguidelinesofstructureddata?Tohelpsearchenginesinunderstandingeachpageonyoursite,youshouldimplementstructureddata(SD)toprovidecontexttothesite’scontentinanauthoritativeway. ReadmoretolearnwhyyouneedtogetSDonyoursite(thebenefits)andtolearnaboutthegeneralguidelinesofSDmarkup.UnderstandingtheStructuredDataViewintheHuckabuyDashboardHowdoIusethestructureddatapageintheHuckabuyDashboard?InordertogetfullvalueoutofourDashboard,it’simportantthatyouasacustomercanunderstandtheinformationbeingpresentedtoyouwhenyounavigatetothedifferentviewsavailablewithinit.OnceyouhaveinstalledHuckabuySDmarkuptoyourwebsite,youwillbeabletokeeptrackofthenumberofstructureddataobjectsyoucurrentlyhaveinuse.Thisarticlewillexplainhowtonavigatethestructureddatapageinthedashboardandexportreports.HowtotrackSD/RichResultperformanceinGSCHowcanItrackstructureddataandrichresultsperformanceinGoogleSearchConsole?Structureddatamarkupisusedtohelpsearchenginesunderstandthecontentandinformationonawebsite. TheHuckabuydashboardmonitorsthehealthofstructureddatamarkupobjectsandtrackstheSEOperformanceofyourwebsiteincorrelationwithHuckabuystructureddatamarkup.Also,thedashboardtrackstheperformanceofrichresultsconnectedtoyoursite.ReadmoreabouthowtotrackSDandrichresultsperformanceforyourbusinessinthisarticle.DuplicateStructuredDataRemovalWhyshouldIremoveduplicatestructureddataandhowdoIdoit?AstheimportanceofSDandtheunderstandingofitsvaluehasgrown,sohasthegrowthofSDtools.ItiscrucialtoavoidtheduplicationofSDmarkuponpagesandthegenerationofitfrommanysources.AsacustomerofHuckabuy’sSDsoftware,youarebuyingthemostrobustSDforyoursite,andyouwanttomakesurethatyoudon’thaveanyduplicateSDfromotherSEOtoolsorplugins.ReadmoretodiscoverhowtodetectandremoveduplicateSDfromyourwebsite.Google’sRecommended&RequiredDataAttributesWhatareGoogle’srecommendedandrequireddataattributes?AlthoughGoogleusesSchemavocabulary,ithasalsocreateditsownsetofrecommendedandrequiredproperties.Eachstructureddataobjecthasauniquesetofrecommendedandrequiredproperties,alldependingonthetypeofcontentandinformationitisproviding. ReadmoreaboutGoogle’srecommendedandrequireddataattributes.SchemaObjectTypes&RichResultEligibleObjectTypesWhatareschemaobjecttypesandrichresultseligibleobjecttypes?Schemaisalanguagethatwebmasterscanimplementontoawebsitetohelpsearchenginespidersunderstandwebcontentmoreeasily.Schema.org’svocabularycurrently(earlyJune2020)consistsof829objecttypes,1,351properties,and339Enumerationvalues;eachobjecttypeiscategorizedinahierarchywithvariouspropertiesassociatedwiththeobjecttype.Newschemasarebeingcreatedallthetimewiththegoalofcreatingthemostdetailedanddescriptivevocabulary. Thisarticlelistscurrenteligibleschemaobjecttypesandrichresults/richsnippetsobjecttypes.WhatAreRichSnippets?AGuidetoSERPFeaturesStructuredDataExamplesADDITIONALRESOURCESANDNEWS