Lately, Google has been highlighting the benefits of rich snippets in the results page. Schema.org markup is one of the most powerful techniques in terms of SEO to obtain them and therefore allows you to optimize your SEO.
What is schema.org markup?
Schema.org markup is a method of helping search engines better understand the information on a web page.
It was developed following a partnership with Google, Bing and Yahoo in 2011. The official website is: http://schema.org/.
In this specific case, the schema.org markup asks Google to display upcoming events taking place in the concert hall, directly in the SERPs.
Schema.org markup tells search engines what your data actually means, not just a string of words.
The content of your website is indexed and can be found via search engines. But with schema.org markup, your content is indexed in a different way.
How ? Markup tells search engines exactly what your content means.
For example, the word “Patrick Bruel” appears on an article. If you put the right schema.org markup in place for the name “Patrick Bruel”, you can tell Google that Patrick Bruel is a singer at a particular concert and not just a string of words.
This result will then be displayed in the Google results page.
Schema.org markup used unique microdata semantics before the advent of a more powerful and efficient markup, JSON-LD scripting.
This JSON-LD script should be added to the head of each page of your website.
What is JSON-LD?
JSON-LD or Javascript Object Notation for Linked Data, is a method of encoding linked data using JSON. It has the advantage of being as easy to read by humans as by machines.
In the context of structured data for your website, JSON-LD is essential.
JSON-LD allows you to achieve the coveted “Rich Snippets”, “Knowledge Graph cards” or even display “Sitelinks” by structuring all the data present on your website.
Credit: @moz
Schema.org provides several markup in JSON-LD to present your data to Google (machine-readable).
This allows you to collect all your data about a page, product, article and display it in a single little piece of Javascript.
The main semantic tags
- Event
- Local Business
- Organization
- Person
- Product
- Website
Integrate structured data markup into your site with JSON-LD
Luckily, the JSON-LD format is standardized and is very easily modifiable and transposable.
Thanks to this new structured data model, you have the opportunity to provide Google with lots of different information such as the social networks associated with your brand, your postal address, your opening hours, your logo, etc.
Simply improve your CTR with JSON-LD
THE structured data in schema.org are a wonderful way to improve your CTR on the results page.
Examples of interesting semantic tags to add to your site
- AggregateRating: to add reviews on a product, article directly on the Google results page
- Recipe: to add the description of a recipe in the SERP
- SearchAction: to add a search bar and your sitelinks
For more information on implementing these tags, see the resources provided by Google.
You have the option to add all kinds of schema.org in your JSON-LD.
After creating the code, consider validating it using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
This markup being simple, it is quickly replicable and can be automated if you are using WordPress using an extension like Markup (JSON-LD) structured in schema.org.
If you are not under WP, you can use JSON-LD generators and then insert the content into the head section of the targeted page.