The Beginner's Guide to Structured Data for SEO - Moz

In an SEO context, "structured data" usually refers to implementing some type of markup on a webpage, in order to provide additional detail ... Skiptocontent Mozlogo Menuopen Menuclose Search Products MozPro MozProHome MozLocal MozLocalHome STAT MozscapeAPI FreeSEOTools LinkExplorer KeywordExplorer CompetitiveResearch DomainAnalysis MozBar MoreFreeSEOTools LearnSEO Beginner'sGuidetoSEO SEOLearningCenter MozAcademy SEOQ&A Webinars,Whitepapers,&Guides Blog WhyMoz AgencySolutions EnterpriseSolutions SmallBusinessSolutions CaseStudies TheMozStory NewReleases Login Logout Products MozPro YourAll-In-OneSuiteofSEOTools TheessentialSEOtoolset:keywordresearch,linkbuilding,siteaudits,pageoptimization,ranktracking,reporting,andmore. Learnmore TryMozProfree MozLocal CompleteLocalSEOManagement RaiseyourlocalSEOvisibilitywitheasydirectorydistribution,reviewmanagement,listingupdates,andmore. Learnmore Checkmypresence STAT EnterpriseRankTracking SERPtrackingandanalyticsforSEOexperts,STAThelpsyoustaycompetitiveandagilewithfreshinsights. Learnmore Bookademo MozscapeAPI ThePowerofMozDataviaAPI PoweryourSEOwiththeproven,mostaccuratelinkmetricsintheindustry,poweredbyourindexoftrillionsoflinks. Learnmore Getconnected CompareSEOProducts FreeSEOTools LinkExplorer PowerfulBacklinkDataforSEO Exploreourindexofover40trillionlinkstofindbacklinks,anchortext,DomainAuthority,spamscore,andmore. Getlinkdata KeywordExplorer TheOneKeywordResearchToolforSEOSuccess Discoverthebesttraffic-drivingkeywordsforyoursitefromourindexofover500millionrealkeywords. Searchkeywords CompetitiveResearch CompetitiveIntelligencetoFuelYourSEOStrategy GainintelonyourtopSERPcompetitors,keywordgaps,andcontentopportunities. Findcompetitors DomainAnalysis FreeDomainSEOAnalysisTool GettopcompetitiveSEOmetricslikeDomainAuthority,toppages,rankingkeywords,andmore. Analyzedomain MozBar Free,InstantSEOMetricsAsYouSurf UsingGoogleChrome,seetopSEOmetricsinstantlyforanywebsiteorsearchresultasyoubrowsetheweb. TryMozBar MoreFreeSEOTools LearnSEO Beginner'sGuidetoSEO The#1mostpopularintroductiontoSEO,trustedbymillions. ReadtheBeginner'sGuide How-ToGuides Step-by-stepguidestosearchsuccessfromtheauthorityonSEO. SeeAllSEOGuides SEOLearningCenter BroadenyourknowledgewithSEOresourcesforallskilllevels. VisittheLearningCenter MozAcademy Upskillandgetcertifiedwithon-demandcourses&certifications. ExploretheCatalog On-DemandWebinars LearnmodernSEObestpracticesfromindustryexperts. ViewAllWebinars SEOQ&A Insights&discussionsfromanSEOcommunityof500,000+. FindSEOAnswers July11-13,2022 JoinusinSeattleForMozCon Snagtickets Blog WhyMoz SmallBusinessSolutions Uncoverinsightstomakesmartermarketingdecisionsinlesstime. GrowYourBusiness TheMozStory Mozwasthefirst&remainsthemosttrustedSEOcompany. ReadOurStory AgencySolutions Earn&keepvaluableclientswithunparalleleddata&insights. DriveClientSuccess CaseStudies ExplorehowMozdrivesROIwithaproventrackrecordofsuccess. SeeWhat'sPossible EnterpriseSolutions Gainacompetitiveedgeintheever-changingworldofsearch. ScaleYourSEO NewReleases GetthescooponthelatestandgreatestfromMoz. SeeWhat’sNew NewFeature:MozPro Surfaceactionablecompetitiveintel LearnMore Login MozPro MozLocal MozLocalDashboard MozscapeAPI MozscapeAPIDashboard MozAcademy Avatar MozHome Notifications Account&Billing ManageUsers CommunityProfile MyQ&A MyVideos LogOut By:BridgetRandolph September6,2017 TheBeginner'sGuidetoStructuredDataforSEO:ATwo-PartSeries SEOBasics | TechnicalSEO Theauthor'sviewsareentirelyhisorherown(excludingtheunlikelyeventofhypnosis)andmaynotalwaysreflecttheviewsofMoz. Part1:AnoverviewofstructureddataforSEO SEOshavebeentalkingaboutstructureddataforafewyearsnow—eversinceGoogle,Bing,Yahoo!andYandexgottogetherin2011tocreateastandardizedlistofattributesandentitieswhichtheyallagreedtosupport,andwhichbecameknownasSchema.org.However,there'sstillalotofconfusionaroundwhatstructureddatais,whatit’sfor,andhowandwhentoimplementstructureddataforSEOpurposes.Infact,asurveycarriedoutlastyearbyBingfoundthatonly17%ofmarketersareusing(orwereplanningtouse)Schema.orgstructureddatamarkup. Inthistwo-partseries,you’lllearnthebasicsofstructureddata:firstwe’lltalkaboutwhatitis,andhowitrelatestoSEO(Part1),andthenI’lltakeyouthroughasimpleprocessforidentifyingstructureddataopportunitiesandimplementingstructureddataonyourownsite(Part2). Whatisstructureddata? Structureddataisanydatathatisorganized.Forexample,ifyouhaveabunchofscatteredPost-Itnoteswithphonemessagesaboutmeetings,dates,times,people,etc,andyouorganizetheseintoatablewithlabeledrowsandcolumnsforeachtypeofinformation,you’restructuringthedata. Exampleofunstructureddata Post-It1:“Johncalled,confirming3pmonWedatCoffeeShop” Post-It2:“Don’tforgetyour10ammeetingatMary’sOfficethisFriday” Exampleofstructureddata MeetingWith Date Time Location John Wednesday 3pm CoffeeShop Mary Friday 10am Office Structureddatacanbeusedinmanydifferentways,suchasusingOpenGraphmarkuptospecifyaFacebooktitleanddescription,orusingSQLtoqueryarelationaldatabase.InanSEOcontext,"structureddata"usuallyreferstoimplementingsometypeofmarkuponawebpage,inordertoprovideadditionaldetailaroundthepage’scontent.Thismarkupimprovesthesearchengines’understandingofthatcontent,whichcanhelpwithrelevancysignalsandalsoenablesasitetobenefitfromenhancedresultsinSERPs(richsnippets,richcards,carousels,knowledgeboxes,etc).Becausethistypeofmarkupneedstobeparsedandunderstoodconsistentlybysearchenginesaswellasbypeople,therearestandardizedimplementations(knownasformatsand/orsyntaxes)andclassificationsofconcepts,relationships,andterms(knownasvocabularies)whichshouldbeused. Therearethreesyntaxeswhichsearchengineswilltypicallysupport(Microdata,JSON-LD,andmicroformats)andtwocommonvocabularieswhichcanbeusedwiththesesyntaxes:Schema.organdMicroformats.org.Schema.orgcanbeusedwitheithertheMicrodataandJSON-LDsyntaxes,whilethemicroformatssyntaxandvocabularygotogether.Ifyou’rereadinguponthistopic,youmayalsoseereferencestoRDFa,whichisanothersyntax. *Thisallgetsprettyconfusing,soifyou’refeelingless-than-crystal-clearrightnow,youmightwanttocheckoutthisgreatglossarycheatsheetfromAaronBradley. WhenwetalkaboutstructureddataforSEO,we'reusuallytalkingabouttheparticularvocabularyknownas"Schema.org."Schema.orgisthemostcommonlyusedapproachtostructureddatamarkupforSEOpurposes.Itisn’ttheonlyone,though.SomewebsitesusetheMicroformats.orgvocabulary,mostoftenformarkingupproductreviews(h-reviewmarkup)ordefiningaphysicallocation(h-cardmarkup). Inadditiontobeingabletousedifferentvocabulariestomarkupyoursite,youcanalsoimplementthismarkupindifferentwaysusingsyntaxes.ForSchema.orgvocabulary,thebestwaystoaddmarkuptoyoursiteareeitherthroughusingtheMicrodataformat,orJSON-LD.WithMicrodatamarkup,yourstructureddataisintegratedwithinthemainHTMLofthepage,whereasJSON-LDusesaJavascriptobjecttoinsertallofyourmarkupintotheheadofthepage,whichisoftenacleaner,simplerimplementationfromadevelopmentperspective. TheMicrodataapproachwasoriginallytherecommendedoneforSEOpurposes,butGoogle’sJSON-LDsupporthasimprovedinthepastfewyearsandnowitistheirrecommendedapproachwhenpossible.Note,however,thatBingdoesnotcurrentlysupportJSON-LD(althoughhopefullythismaybechangingsoon). HowdoesstructureddatasupportSEO? Google,Bing,andothersearchenginesencouragewebmasterstousestructureddata,andincentivizethatusagebyprovidingbenefitstowebsiteswithstructureddatacorrectlyimplemented. Someofthesebenefitsincludesearchresultenhancementsandcontent-specificfeatures,suchas: Richsearchresults:Includesstyling,images,andothervisualenhancements Richcards:Avariationonrichsearchresults,similartorichsnippetsanddesignedformobileusers Enrichedsearchresults:Includesinteractiveorimmersivefeatures KnowledgeGraph:Informationaboutanentitysuchasabrand Breadcrumbs:Breadcrumbsinyoursearchresult Carousels:Acollectionofmultiplerichresultsinacarouselstyle RichresultsforAMP:TohaveyourAMP(AcceleratedMobilePages)appearincarouselsandwithrichresults,you’llneedtoincludestructureddata Theseenhancedsearchresultscanalsoimproveyourclick-throughrate(CTR)anddriveadditionaltraffic,becausetheyaremorevisuallyappealingandprovideadditionalinformationtosearchers.AndimprovedCTRcanalsoindirectlyimproveyourrankings,asauserbehaviorsignal. Implementingstructureddataonyoursiteisalsoawaytoprepareforthefutureofsearch,asGoogleinparticularcontinuestomoveinthedirectionofhyper-personalizationandsolvingproblemsandansweringquestionsdirectly.TomAnthonygaveapresentationaboutthistopicnottoolongago,titledFiveEmergingTrendsinSearch. Commonusesforstructureddata Part2ofthisserieswillgointomoredetailaroundspecificstructureddataopportunitiesandhowtoimplementthem.However,therearecertaincommonusesforstructureddatawhichalmostanywebsiteorbrandcanbenefitfrom: KnowledgeGraph Ifyouhaveapersonalorbusinessbrand,youcanedittheinformationwhichappearsontheright-handsideoftheSERPforbrandedsearches.GoogleusesstructureddatatopopulatetheKnowledgeGraphbox. Richsnippetsandrichcards Themostcommonlyusedmarkupallowsyoutoprovideadditionalcontextfor: Articles Recipes Products StarRatingsandProductReviews Videos UsingthismarkupallowsyoursitetoshowupintheSERPsasarichsnippetorrichcard: Google’srichcardsexamplesfor"Recipe" Ifyoursitehasseveralitemsthatwouldfitthequery,youcanalsogeta“hostcarousel”resultlikethisonefor"chickenrecipes": Imagesource Inadditiontothesetypesofcontentmarkup,Googleiscurrentlyexperimentingwith"actionmarkup,"whichenablesuserstotakeanactiondirectlyfromtheSERP,suchasbookinganappointmentorwatchingamovie.Ifthisisrelevanttoyourbusiness,youmaywanttoexpressinterestinparticipating. AMP(AcceleratedMobilePages) IfyoursiteusesAMP(AcceleratedMobilePages),you’llwanttomakesureyouincludestructureddatamarkuponboththeregularandAMPpages.ThiswillallowyourAMPpagestoappearinrichresults,includingtheTopStoriescarouselandhostcarousels. Socialcards AlthoughOpenGraph,Twittercards,andothersocial-specificmarkupmaynothaveabigimpactfromapurelySEOperspective,thismarkupisvisibletosearchenginesandBingspecificallynotesthattheirsearchenginecanunderstandOpenGraphpage-levelannotations(althoughatthemomenttheyonlyusethisdatatoprovidevisualenhancementsforaspecifichandfulofpublishers). Ifyouuseanysocialnetworksformarketing,orsimplywantyourcontenttolookgoodwhenit’ssharedonsocialmedia,makesureyoucorrectlyimplementsocialmarkupandvalidateusingthevariousplatforms’respectivetestingtools: Facebook:OpenGraph+ValidationTool LinkedIn:OpenGraph Twitter:Cards+ValidationTool Pinterest:RichPins+ValidationTool Instagram:OpenGraph AdWords YoucanincludestructureddatainyourAdWordsads,usingstructuredsnippetextensions.Theseallowyoutoaddadditionalinformationwithinyouradcopytohelppeopleunderstandmoreaboutyourproductsorservicesandcanalsoimproveclick-throughrate(CTR)onyourads. Emailmarketing IfyouhaveGmail,youmayhavegottenaconfirmationemailforaflightandseentheinformationboxatthetopshowingyourflightdetails,orseenasimilarinformationboxforyourlastAmazonorder.Thisispossibleduetostructureddatamarkupforemails.GoogleInboxandGmailsupportbothJSON-LDandMicrodatamarkupforemailsaboutvarioustypesoforders,invoicesandreservations. 3commonmythsaboutstructureddata&SEO Myth#1:ImplementingstructureddatameansIwilldefinitelygetrichsnippets. Althoughusingstructureddatamarkupisnecessarytobeeligibleforrichsnippetsandrichcards,thereisnoguaranteethatsimplyaddingstructureddatamarkuptoyoursitewillimmediatelyresultinrichsnippetsorcards.Sometimesitmaynotshowupatall,ormayappearinconsistently.Thisdoesn’tnecessarilymeanyou’vedoneanythingwrong. Myth#2:Structureddataisarankingsignal. Usingstructureddatacorrectlycanhelpsearchenginestobetterunderstandwhatyourcontentisaboutandmaythereforecontributetoastrongerrelevancysignal.Inaddition,studieshaveshownthatrichsnippetscanimproveclick-throughrate(CTR),whichcanleadtobetterrankingsindirectly.However,theuseofstructureddatamarkuponitsownisnotadirectrankingsignal. Myth#3:Googlecanfigureitoutwithouttheextrawork. Sometimesit’stemptingtoskipextrasteps,likeimplementingstructureddata,sinceweknowthatGoogleisgettingsmarteratfiguringthingsoutandunderstandingcontentwithoutmuchhelp.Butthisisashort-sightedview.Yes,Googleandothersearchenginescanunderstandandfigureoutsomeofthisstuffontheirown,butifyouwantthemtobeabletounderstandaspecificthingaboutyourcontent,youshouldusethecorrectmarkup.Notonlywillithelpintheshorttermwiththethingsthealgorithmsaren’tsogoodatunderstanding,italsoensuresthatyoursiteitselfiswellstructuredandthatyourcontentservesaclearpurpose.Also,Googlewon’tgiveyoucertainfeatureswithoutcorrectimplementation,whichcouldbecostingyouonalargescaleovertime,especiallyifyou’reinacompetitiveniche.Apartfromanythingelse,studieshaveshownthatrichsnippetscanimproveCTRbyanywherefrom5%–30%. Additionalresources InPart2ofthistwo-partseries,we’llbelookingatthepracticalsideofstructureddataimplementation:howtoactuallyidentifystructureddataopportunitiesforyoursite,andhowtoimplementandtestthemarkupcorrectly. Butfornow,herearesomeresourcestohelpyougetstarted: Google’sOverviewofStructuredDataforSEO:InformationfromGoogleabouthowtheyrecommendapproachingstructureddataforSEOandAMP Google'sStructuredDataMarkupHelper:Thistoolcanguideyouthroughcreatingthecodeforvariouscommonusecases. StructuredDataTestingTool–Google:ThistoolfromGoogleallowsyoutotestwhetheryourmarkupisworkingcorrectly. BingGuidetoMarkingUpYourSite:MoreinformationabouthowBingsupportsstructureddata. StructuredDataValidator–Yandex:AtoolfromYandextotesthowtheyseeyourstructureddatamarkup. Schema.org:TheofficialSchema.orgwebsite.Hereyou’llfindinformationaboutthelatestupdates,FAQs,andaguidetoaddingSchema.orgmarkuptoyoursite. Inthemeantime,I’dlovetohearfromyou:Haveyouimplementedstructureddatamarkuponyoursite?Shareyourresultsinthecomments! WithMozPro,youhavethetoolsyouneedtogetSEOright—allinoneplace. Startyourfreetrial! ReadNext HowtoPerformaBasicLocalBusinessCompetitiveAudit(Updatedfor2022) Readthispost HowtoLearnSEO Readthispost HowtoPrepYourSEOStrategyforaNewWebsite Readthispost Comments PleasekeepyourcommentsTAGFEEbyfollowingthecommunityetiquette Commentsareclosed.Gotaburningquestion?HeadtoourQ&Asectiontostartanewconversation.