Structured Data & Schema
Used to mark up elements on a webpage, structured data (or schema) helps search engines further understand the content which is contained on a website. Structured data is also used to generate further rich results and featured snippets within search results. Our SEO Office Hours Notes below cover recommendations for the implementation of structured data / schema, as well as insights from Google.
To learn more about structured data’s impact on SEO, check out our additional resources:
Structured Data Shouldn’t be Duplicated Across Your Site
Structured data should be specific to a particular page and its primary topic and shouldn’t be duplicated across a site. For example, you shouldn’t have the same marked up review across multiple pages.
Not all Markup Used in Search Results But Can Improve Google’s Understanding of Site
Not all Schema.org markup is used by Google to provide rich snippets in the search results, however it may help Google better understand your website.
Ensure Meta Data is Available on Mobile Version of Dynamic Sites
Dynamic sites should make sure that meta data isn’t stripped out on the mobile version of the page e.g. structured data.
Use Structured Data to Optimise for Voice Search
Structured data helps Google understand the meaning of your pages which is crucial for voice search. John also suggests pointing Google to information that could be combined into a voice snippet where a short answer is possible. However, don’t create thin content, one answer pages just to satisfy voice queries.
Event Markup Needs Physical Location
Event markup should only be used if the event has a physical location. Google may penalise your site in the form of a manual action if this markup is incorrect.
Markup Needs to Remain the Same on Desktop and Mobile Page for Mobile-first
Identical content across mobile and desktop versions of a page isn’t enough to comply with Mobile-first Indexing. Hidden markup like structured data, hreflang tags and links for AMP should also be equivalent.
Add Organization Markup & My Business for Best Chance to Be Shown in Knowledge Panel
John recommends adding organization markup and Google My Business listing to give Google a stronger reason to show your business in the Knowledge Panel.
Review Markup Without Source Could Result in Loss of Rich Snippets
Marking up aggregate reviews without specifying the source could result in a manual action. This could result in Google dropping rich snippets in the search results for the website.
Structured Mark Up Should Be Correct From Technical & Policy Perspective
Google judges structured mark up to be correct when it is technically correct by passing Google’s testing tool, correct from a Google policy perspective with logically correct mark up and when the site is reasonably high quality so Google can trust it.
Structured Data Shouldn’t Differ Between HTML and JavaScript
Google first crawls and indexes raw html and then the rendered HTML. If structured data differs between two could be confusing for Google.