Today’s guest post is written by John Trader.
The race to the top of search result pages is getting more fierce as search engines drive more and more traffic and revenue to businesses.
Last June, Google, Yahoo, and Bing announced a new initiative called Schema.org to create and support a common vocabulary for structured data markup on web pages.
The goal was to allow webmasters and SEO experts to improve how their websites appear in search engine result pages (SERP), increase click through rates (CTR) for higher visibility, and drive more relevant web traffic.
Creating this common vocabulary was seen as an immediate boon for site owners who previously had to struggle with adding HTML markup to their pages in different formats according to which search engine they were targeting.
Providing this valuable tool so search engines could better decipher information on web pages allows them to provide more robust results to end users. This means people like you and me can more easily find relevant and personalized information on the Internet.
And we all know in the increasingly diverse web eco-sphere:
Relevancy=Traffic=Leads=Revenue
How Schema Works
Schema simplified obscure and complicated methods to tag websites by developing templates specifically designed for certain verticals, which make it a lot easier for site owners to add language that more effectively categorizes their products or services.
In other words, Schema allows you to more accurately define the attributes of whatever content is on your page.
Schema’s applicability bodes well for sites that focus on topics such as TV, movies, events, and recipes, but provides additional value for news and e-commerce sites. If, for example, the same article is published in six different publications, a search engine can look at specific attributes defined in microdata and realize this is all the same article.
So instead of showing you different or outdated results, Schema shows the most fresh and relevant content. Furthemore, e-commerce sites using Schema vocabulary in their markups can draw attention to a listing to help increase CTR.
If you were searching for a replacement battery for your Gateway laptop, following is an example from the Google SERP for “Gateway replacement battery.”
Notice how the ratings bar draws your eye to the search result snippet? This example from Amazon demonstrates just how effective adding Schema vocabulary to your HTML markup makes the listing stand out.
A product search for “black stapler” in Google produces the following listing for Staples in page one of the search results.
Taking into account brand recognition, this listing does stand out from others from the use of the Schema vocabulary within the microdata of the site.
Why Schema Matters
Adam Justice, who recently blogged about major changes to SEO in 2012, said that prior to Schema,
Most site developers didn’t properly tag or use the correct markup on their pages. The Schema.org project brought attention to a practice even seasoned developers were lacking in, and the amount of websites that now use the correct markup has increased.
I asked Emily McClendon at Nebo Agency, an Atlanta-based interactive agency ,who specializes in SEO best practices, why more sites aren’t adopting the Schema vocabulary.
She said,
As more people recognize SEO as an important priority, they will be able to put more development hours towards optimization and request Schema more frequently.
CEO Brian Easter also pointed out,
One of the biggest benefits of Schema is shifting how search engines view the Web from a glorified algorithm of words smashed together to an object with object attributes.
The advent of Schema is injecting more intuitive skills into the major search engines helping them to more efficiently and effectively index, crawl, and understand the content of a site. That’s good news for marketers executing strategies to establish more relevancy in their niches.
What are your thoughts on Schema? Do you find it to be a valuable SEO tool to establish relevancy?
John Trader is public relations and marketing manager with M2SYS Technology, a recognized industry leader in biometric identity management technology. He has PR and marketing experience working in the financial, publishing, non-profit, entertainment, sales training, and technology sectors. Currently living in Atlanta, he is an avid NHL fan and lacrosse coach for Emory University. He also blogs over at PRBreakfastClub.com