Google is the neediest relationship that I have. First, Google appreciates keywords, but now he wants links, content, and social media to notice my website.
What’s next in this relationship? Unfortunately, we can’t say!
In the meantime, there are technical SEO tools that are essential to boosting your rankings. One of these tools is schema markup. Schema tells Google exactly what your business does through coding. You are able to categorize your business and identify important information.
If you do not use schema markup than you are not alone. In 2013, only .3% of websites had schema on their websites.
My goal of this article if to explain how schema works so you, or your website developer, can add schema to your website. If you do it right, you can boost your rankings on search engine result pages (SERPs).
Schema Format
I want to take a brief moment to explain schema format so you know how it works.
First, let me show you an example of schema markup. The following is the Address Markup from Schema.org;
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Person”>
<span itemprop=”name”>Jane Doe</span>
<img src=”janedoe.jpg” itemprop=”image” alt=”Photo of Jane Joe”/>
<span itemprop=”jobTitle”>Professor</span>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>
20341 Whitworth Institute
405 N. Whitworth
</span>
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>Seattle</span>,
<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>WA</span>
<span itemprop=”postalCode”>98052</span>
</div>
<span itemprop=”telephone”>(425) 123-4567</span>
<a href=”mailto:jane-doe@xyz.edu” itemprop=”email”>
jane-doe@xyz.edu</a>
Jane’s home page:
<a href=”http://www.janedoe.com” itemprop=”url”>janedoe.com</a>
Graduate students:
<a href=”http://www.xyz.edu/students/alicejones.html” itemprop=”colleague”>
Alice Jones</a>
<a href=”http://www.xyz.edu/students/bobsmith.html” itemprop=”colleague”>
Bob Smith</a>
</div>
Schema is separated by <div>. This tells Google where the schema category starts and begins. Without <div> tags, Google might conceptualize that the phone number is part of the postal address.
The ‘itemprop’ identifies the piece of information. For example;
<span itemprop=”telephone”>(425) 123-4567</span>
The ‘itemprop’ tells Google that the schema is a telephone number. Schema’s ‘itemprop’ is specific to the category that you are tagging.
If you have never developed a website than this will coding could look very foreign! I suggest speaking with your website developer to add schema to your web pages.
Geographic and Contact Markup
Geographic markup is essential for all service oriented companies. Geographic markup includes your business location, phone number, fax, email, and Google map. Your geographic markup can be anywhere that you have contact information listed. I primarily insert geographic markup on the contact page, footer, and home page.
The following is an example of geographic markup for Get Global Marketing;
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Marketing”>
<span itemprop=”name”>Get Global Marketing</span>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>1531 NW Juniper st #4</span>
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>Bend</span>, <span itemprop=”addressRegion”>OR</span>
<span itemprop=”postalCode”>97703</span>
</div> Phone: <span itemprop=”telephone”>541-550-2713</span>
<a href=”http://googlemapsurl.com” itemprop=”maps”>URL of Map</a> </div>
Review Markup
Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most valuable methods to gain new clients. You can increase the valuable word-of-mouth marketing that you need with reviews and testimonials. When you do, it is important to emphasize those reviews on your website.
Review schema can be used increase the exposure to testimonials on your website.
This is an example of a review markup from schema.org;
<div itemprop=”review” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Review”>
<span itemprop=”name”>Value purchase</span> – by
<span itemprop=”author”>Lucas</span>,
<meta itemprop=”datePublished” content=”2011-03-25″>March 25, 2011
<div itemprop=”reviewRating” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Rating”>
<meta itemprop=”worstRating” content = “1”/>
<span itemprop=”ratingValue”>4</span>/
<span itemprop=”bestRating”>5 stars </div>
<span itemprop=”description”>Great microwave for the price. It is small and fits in my apartment.</span>
</div>
The markup emphasizes the source of the review, rating, and description.
Events Markup
We have all heard the horror stories of the kid’s birthday party that nobody showed up to. We don’t want to be that kid in business!
If you are throwing a business event, it should be marketed across all of your social and public outlets. Events schema can help you publicize your event across Google.
Since schema requires visible content than you can add a blog article or calendar page for your Event markup. If you are promoting a sporting event, schema can tag the event’s name, date, time, location, and price.
The following is an example for a music festival;
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Event”>
<a itemprop=”url” href=”www.url.com”>
<span itemprop=”name”>Music Festival<span>
</a><div itemprop=”description”>Featuring 100 different artists</div>
<meta itemprop=”startDate” content=”2013-05-05T”> Starts: at 2:00 pm
<meta itemprop=”endDate” content=”2013-05-06T”>Ends: 10:00 pm
<div itemprop=”location” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Place”>
<a itemprop=”url” href=”www.URL.com”>Central Ampitheater</a>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>Orlando</span>,
<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>FL</span>
<div itemprop=”offers” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/AggregateOffer”>
<span itemprop=”lowPrice”>$25</span>
<span itemprop=”highPrice”>$250</span> </div>
These are just a few schema markup categories. There are many more options, such as;
- Organization
- Person
- Place
- Products
- Restaurants
- Movies
- Software Applications
WordPress plugins are making schema markup easier to apply. Here are the top schema plugins to increase your rankings on Google.
Each plugin has a customized dashboard, according to your website’s information. If you are not familiar with coding, then a plugin could be the best choice of adding schema to your website.
Adding schema markup can increase your rankings on Google. As an online marketer, I recommend optimizing your website with schema. Ask your website developer if you have schema markup on your website. If not, then Get Global Marketing can add the schema code to make your website more visible online.
