What is Schema? Introduction to Google Structured Data Markup

Schema was jointly created by Google, Bing, Yahoo and Yandex. A structured data standard for marking web content. It mainly helps search engines better understand the information on the website through semantic markup. . These structured tags can help search engines present richer information in results, such as star ratings, video thumbnails, or product prices, making it easier for users to find the content they need.

The most important thing about using structured markup is that you can Improve your website’s SEO performance . Structured markup allows your content to be presented in search results in the form of rich snippets, such as questions and answers, ratings, products, etc. These special search results can make your webpage more prominent among many search results, and usually attract More clicks will increase the click-through rate of your website.

Benefits of using structured markup:

• Make search results more attractive
• Improve click-through rate (CTR)
• Improve content readability and structure
• Improve user experience on mobile devices
• Optimization to support voice search

The following are the Schema types you may use. If you need more detailed information, you can visitGoogleofficial guide

Commonly used:

Product categories:

Lifestyle:

Activities related:

Job related:

Education related:

other:

After understanding what Schema there are, let's introduce the format of setting structured markup. Currently the most common one is JSON-LD, which is also the most recommended production method by Google.

JSON-LD

JSON-LD is currently the most recommended structured data format by Google. It embeds tagged material into areas of the web page that are separate from the web page content. In this way, direct interference with the HTML structure can be avoided, and maintenance and updates are also convenient.

Microdata

Microdata is a format that embeds tags directly into HTML, closely integrating the tags of structured data with the content. It is suitable for developers who are familiar with HTML, but it may be more troublesome to update and manage in large websites. In addition, using Microdata will increase the HTML The complexity may affect some designs.

RDF

RDFa is the oldest format among them, and basically no one uses it now. It is an XML-based syntax that embeds structured data into attributes in HTML. Because of its high threshold for use, it is not suitable for novices. The language may not be intuitive enough.

Schema setting can be divided into the following four steps.

1. Select markup format

First evaluate what type your website is, and then choose the appropriate Schema type. You can refer to our table above or go toGoogleofficial guideFind the right category.

2. Write Schema markup

The next step is to write your own Schema markup. The main teaching here isStructured Data Markup Assistance Tooland manual setting.

Structured Data Markup Assistance Tool

The Structured Data Markup Assist Tool is a tool launched by Google. It can help generate Schema, and then you need to manually paste the data into HTML code. The following are detailed steps.

1. Select mark type : Currently the tool supports 14 selectable types
2. Paste URL : Paste the URL of the web page that needs to be tagged
3. Select tagged content : After selecting the content, you need to highlight all the necessary forms. If there is no content on the web page, you need to choose to add missing data to fill in the content.
4. Create HTML : Finally, press Create HTML to generate a complete Schema. Then you only need to paste it into the HTML code of the web page and you are done.

Manual marking

If you choose manual tagging, it is recommended to use JSON-LD. In addition to being relatively simple, it is also the most recommended method by Google. Below is a sample recipe. Because the information for each category will be different, it is recommended to go toGoogleinstruction guideconfirmation.

{

"@context": "https://schema.org",

"@type": "Recipe(your Schema Type)",

Some of the following categories will be different

"name": "Chocolate Cake",

"author": {

"@type": "Person",

"name": "Xiao Ming"

},

"description": "A simple and delicious chocolate cake recipe.",

"recipeIngredient": ["200g flour", "100g sugar", "50g cocoa powder"]

}

3. Embed code

After the birth, the next step is to paste the information into the HTML code. It is usually recommended to put it in the head. And it will be embedded in the following way.

< script type="application/ld+json"> your Schema

4.Testing and Verification

The last step is to test whether the Schema has been added successfully. You can useSchema.orgtest. As long as you fill in the URL, it will automatically verify and display the results in the results column next to it.

People who are new to Schema may find that even if they add structured data tags, the ranking of the website does not improve, or the structured tags cannot be displayed. Here are a few common mistakes we’ve compiled:

Incomplete or incorrect markup

This is the most common mistake that people new to Schema make. If the markup is incorrect, Google will not be able to crawl the Schema data, and the data structure markup will not appear at all. It is recommended that after setting up, you can throw it to the Schema checking website, such asSchema.orgDetermine whether structured data is correctly tagged.

Use the same markup throughout the site

Some people may complain that it is too troublesome to do one web page one by one. It is better for me to do the entire website at once so that I don’t have to spend so much time. But if you do this, the ranking may not rise but fall, because Google may think that the web page contains too many meaningless types, and then punish it.

Over-optimization

Some people may think that since adding Schema can add points, then if I add several at a time, I can add a lot of points. Doing so will be punished by Google, because too many meaningless Schemas may be judged by Google as an abuse of structured data. The correct approach is to only add the Schema that suits your website.

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