Structured data is a type of data that follows predefined rules to make it machine-readable. Structured data can be used as the foundation for applications like Facebook and Google applications.
The use cases for structured data are wide. Businesses can use structured data to improve their SEO ranking, provide a better customer experience, and increase revenue. It’s also vital in social media marketing where marketers can gain insights into which content resonates with the audience and which doesn’t by analyzing structured content on profile pages.
In this article, we will focus on properly implementing structured data into public websites such as blogs, news articles, and other online publications published online every day.
How does the data get structured on the webpage?
Webpages can use data to provide more relevant information and improve user experience. The data they use is often stored in a structured format that allows it to be used as a set of instructions in programming languages like PHP, CSS, or HTML.
Data Structures:
Hyperlink: A hyperlink is a text that, when clicked, will lead the browser to another webpage.
URL: A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the address.
Domain Name System (DNS): This system helps users find websites on the internet by mapping IP addresses with domain names.
IP Address: An internet protocol address identifies each computer on the network using four sets of numbers separated by periods known as octets.
► How does structured data improve SEO?
Structured data is a markup language that provides metadata or structured information about a given website. It is used to provide more meaningful search engine results and improve SEO.
A lot of content on the web design is unstructured, and the search engines are having a difficult time with it. With structured data, websites can provide more in-depth and detailed content to help improve SEO.
A recent study conducted by SEO experts found that structured data increased overall organic traffic by 90%. Structured data improves SEO by enabling the search engines to understand and index resources they would have otherwise missed.
How to implement structured data in new website
Structured data is one of the key elements to start building a good user experience on your website. Structured data enables you to answer questions like “What is this product?” and “What are the top features?” without having to go through a lengthy FAQ page.
There are many ways to implement structured data on your website. You can either use tags that describe the object or content or if that’s not possible, you can use schema markup or markup for each item in a list. Here we will discuss the process of implementing the structured data in a new website with the help of Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper. So, let’s get started:
► Start with opening Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper
First of all, you need to open Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.
► Select the data type and enter the URL
You must ensure that the website tab is open. After that, you need to select the data type to which you will be adding the HTML markup.
After choosing a coma web page URL and selecting the start tagging the button.
► Complete the highlighting of page elements and assign the data tags
Once the tool starts loading, you will see the webpage on the left side and the related data items on the right side of the page. On the web page, start highlighting the components for assigning data tags like the published date, author details, name, etc. That will also suggest some data tags to add on according to the type of data.
After selecting and assigning the data tags, you will see an information pop-up given beneath The “My Data Tags.” With this, you can easily add the missing tags that might not be visible on your page. For this, you need to select the Add missing tags option.
► Create the HTML
Once the assigning and tagging of data items is completed, you need to select the Create HTML option given at the upper right-hand corner section of the page.
► To your page, add the schema markup
The next step is to add the schema markup to the page. On the next screen, on the right side, you will see your structured data markup given. Here the tool will automatically produce the script as JSON-LD markup. If you want to change it to Microdata, you can select the JSON-LD option from the drop-down menu at the top menu.
To download the script in HTML file format, you need to select the download Tab.
Also, if you want to have more details about adding the structured data to your web page or any other data type, you can select the Articles option given in the right corner above the markup.
To publish the mark, you need to copy and paste the new HTML markup to the webpage source code.
To get Google’s recommended Next Steps, you need to select the finish option given at the top right corner of the page. It will automatically redirect you towards the next option.
► Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to test your markup
You need to open Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool for testing your markup. Now enter the URL of the page you want to test or enter the HTML code. To start testing, click on the Run Test option.
► Start analyzing and fixing the detected issues
The tour will provide you with details about your HTML markup on the left side of the page, and on the right side, the markup analysis will be given. All the red errors or warnings will also be given; you need to note them. If you want to highlight any corresponding markup, click on any data row given at the left. If the changes are necessary, you can look directly at them in the tool panel before publishing the markup.
► The last step is just to be patient and wait
At last, all you need to do is to wait. Sometimes Google takes weeks to re-crawl the new HTML, and even then, it is not guaranteed that your content will show up in which snippets.
Follow the right and legitimate structured data standards and markup and provide Google with necessary details. Your website and your business will benefit from structured data and enhanced SEO.
Finally
Structured Data are the key to making search engines like Google and Bing understand the content. It is a collection of tags that helps describe the content more clearly. Structured data is an important part of digital marketing and website optimization. Not only does it help in making your website search engine friendly, but it also helps in generating organic traffic for your site.
Say you visit a website but don’t see the prices of the products you’re looking for. The website does not have structured data for its product listings. Structured data is a set of standards that provide information about digital products and services in machine-readable form to search engines and other applications to understand what they are trying to find, understand, or show.
Author Bio: Ravi is CEO & Founder of Webomaze Pty Ltd. He believes in serving the industry with some unique solutions with a huge variety of services including web design & web development, SEO Services, eCommerce development, and so on.
