What is Schema Markup?

Schema markup, also known as structured data, is a structured format that is used to provide all information about a web page and its content to all major search engines. 

By providing Schema markup about your website/webpage, you help search engines characterize and categorize the content of your web pages.


Who Can Use This Guide?

If you are new to SEO or just finding out about Schema markup/structured data this guide is for you, or a developer who is looking forward to implementing Schema while developing the website can also use this guide.

How This Guide is Helpful to You?


In this Schema markup guide, you will read about the most common questions about schema / structured data. How to implement it on your website, How to use it for SEO and more. 

Finally, we will provide you with a list of the top-used Schema markups for your website for SEO.

For your information currently, schema.org consists of 797 Types, 1457 Properties and 14 Datatypes, and all of them are understood by search engines like Google, Microsoft Bing, Yandex and Yahoo.

Let's delve deeper into what Schema is.



Schema Markup



Why Use Schema Markup?


According to Google, search engines have to work hard to understand the all content of a page available on the World Wide Web, generally called the Web or Internet.

By using Schema Markup you help search engines find all the information about the web page.  At the same time, Schema/Structured Data helps you get rich snippets in Google search results.

Google Explained How Schema Works





What is Rich Snippets?


Rich snippets (Rich results) are Google search results that show extra details about your webpage, such as ratings, images, prices, and more.
 
The rich snippets help you get more CTR from search, and attract user attention and traffic from search engines.


The Rich Snippets Look Like This.

Structured Data

It also helps search engines classify the page content, Like you can define a website contact Us and About page with the help of Schema.


How Many Websites Use Schema Markup?



According to Web Almanac implementation of structured data in the HTML of a page has continually is increasing

It was 42% of desktop pages In 2021 and 43% on mobile pages, It was 44% for desktop and 45% for mobile pages in 2022.

A big hike in structured data use is because many CMS (Duda & Wix) are using default schema for their websites, and trying their best to provide the best results on SERP without using any custom code.


Most Common Schema Markup Format.

There are many ways to add Structured Data on your website, the most common formats are Microdata (HTML), RDFa and JSON-LD.


Microdata (HTML) Structured Data Format

Microdata (HTML) Structured Data Format


What is Microdata?


Microdata is part of the HTML Standard that is used to structure important metadata info on existing content on web pages.

Every Structured Data needs its attribute to work, For Microdata you must use the itemscope attribute & add a property to any item you must use the itemprop attribute on one of the item's descendants.

Microdata Schema Example
<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/SoftwareApplication">
  <span itemprop="name">Angry Birds</span> - REQUIRES
  <span itemprop="operatingSystem">ANDROID</span><br />
  <link
    itemprop="applicationCategory"
    href="https://schema.org/GameApplication" />

  <div
    itemprop="aggregateRating"
    itemscope
    itemtype="https://schema.org/AggregateRating">
    RATING:
    <span itemprop="ratingValue">4.6</span> (
    <span itemprop="ratingCount">8864</span> ratings )
  </div>

  <div itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Offer">
    Price: $<span itemprop="price">1.00</span>
    <meta itemprop="priceCurrency" content="USD" />
  </div>
</div>

RDFa Structured Data Format

RDFa Structured Data Format

What is RDFa?


The RDFa is an extension to HTML 5, We use this markup to generate rich results and help your website gain better visibility on the Search. 

RDFa helps you markup things like Places, People, Recipes Reviews and more so your web pages are displayed with an enhanced format on all major search engines ( it will work for all).

RDFa Structured Data Example


This is a person Schema in RDFa format.
<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Person">
  <a property="image" href="http://manu.sporny.org/images/manu.png">
    <span property="name">Manu Sporny</span></a>, 
  <span property="jobTitle">Founder/CEO</span>
  <div>
    Phone: <span property="telephone">(540) 961-4469</span>
  </div>
  <div>
    E-mail: <a property="email" href="mailto:msporny@digitalbazaar.com">msporny@digitalbazaar.com</a>
  </div>
  <div>
    Links: <a property="url" href="http://manu.sporny.org/">Manu's homepage</a>
  </div>
</div>

JSON-LD Structured Data Format

JSON-LD Structured Data Format


What is JSON-LD?

JSON-LD is a method of linking data using JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). A lightweight data-interchange format that is based on a subset of JavaScript.

It is one of the easy forms of data that humans to read and write also it is easy for machines to parse and generate.

The JSON-LD is the most popular structured data because it is recommended by Google.

JSON-LD Structured Data Example


A JSON-LD structured data can be used for the recipe page.

<script type="application/ld+json">
    {
      "@context": "https://schema.org/",
      "@type": "Recipe",
      "name": "Party Coffee Cake",
      "author": {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "Mary Stone"
      },
      "datePublished": "2018-03-10",
      "description": "This coffee cake is awesome and perfect for parties.",
      "prepTime": "PT20M"
    }
    </script>

 

Most Popular Schema Markup Types And Their Examples

According to the Web Almanac Web Site, Search Action, Web Page, Search Action and Sitelinks Search Box are the most commonly used Schema Markups.

Schema.org  Arrange the most commonly used Schema Markups type in this list.



Creative Works Schema


Under creative works schema there are all the most generic kinds of creative work schema code you can use including books schema, movies schema, photographs, software programs and more.

Go to - Schema.org/CreativeWork to learn what type of schema comes under this one. 
 

Embedded Non-text Objects Schema


We all add Non-text objects on our website to make our website look better and more attractive and you must add schema for those to help search engines learn more about the object.

What are non-text Objects?


Non-text objects are any type of object that does not consist of text. They can be images, videos, audio recordings, or any other type of file that does not contain text. 

For that schema, org has AudioObject, ImageObject, and VideoObject for us to use on our website.

Go to - AudioObject, ImageObject, and VideoObject and find the best-fit schema for your page.

if you have any specific non-text object on your website you can search for it on the schema.org website.

Event Schema

The event schema is also one of the most used schemas. you can use the scheme code if you publish information about events on your website or blog or use it as an organisation if you provide event listing services.

An event schema can be implemented using the JSON-LD format, which allows the event information to be embedded in the HTML of a web page, it will show more accurate and relevant results for users searching for events.

Repeated events may be structured as separate Event objects.


Health and Medical Types Schema


The Health and Medical Types structured data markups that can be added to web pages to provide search engines with information about the health and medical content on the page.

This can include information such as the name of the condition or treatment being discussed, the symptoms, causes, and potential treatments on the web page/ website.

This structured data will help you show Google the authority of the website, content creator and information source because all the medical topic comes under YMYL. which can help you increase clicks and drive more traffic to the website.

Organisation Schema


The Organization's structured data is used to specify the organisation logo/image info about the Organisation that Google can use in search results and in the Google knowledge panel.

By using the Organisation schema markup you can ensure that the correct image is used for your organization's logo by Google.

The Organisation schema is one of the most used schema markups that provides a strong signal to Google Search algorithms, which can help increase the chances of the image appearing in knowledge panels.

The Organisation's structured data markup can be added to a website's HTML code, this schema includes information such as the organization's name, logo, and contact information, as well as the names and job titles of key personnel.

Organization Schema Markup Typically Includes the Following Types of Information:


Organization name: The official name of the organization, as it appears on official documents or branding materials.

Logo: A URL link to an image file of the organization's logo.

Contact information: The organization's physical address, telephone number, and email address.

Social profiles: URLs to the organization's social media profiles.

Description: A brief description of the organization's mission, products, or services.

Employee information: Names and job titles of key personnel within the organization.

Opening hours: Business hours of the organization

Geolocation: Location of the organization

You will find a lot of websites using the Organization schema, you can copy the code and change it according to your website info. Or use a Schema Markup Generator I use the technical SEO Schema Generator Tool and Schema Builder for Structured Data Chrome Extension. Both tools are easy to use and you can create the schema code using both of them easily.


Organisation Schema Example


<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "The Seo Today",
  "alternateName": "theseotoday",
  "url": "https://www.theseotoday.com/",
  "logo": "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiORlOP1666nT8nQ563HMUFmHqnZRSoGDBWLv0sdtLzIJc_6dGRTIaijALdoGLsfRdpEQCUcXdkGCqt1ZuEPsZV1-lDQdFM4_M_9ZbQT9ykUFlJltt3XUp-cztfztlylmMJdWrm1jst9XiGEATWO7IE9TXl8X_v0YcpJ4pZz1WAAr-XWtF77jCiREEXSg=s631",
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "telephone": "123456123456",
    "contactType": "customer service",
    "contactOption": "TollFree",
    "areaServed": "IN",
    "availableLanguage": "en"
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/theseotoday/",
    "https://twitter.com/theseotoday?lang=en",
    "https://www.instagram.com/theseotoday/",
    "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_fCWJrbWblFFfPekpvP0qw",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/70931314/",
    "https://in.pinterest.com/theseotoday/"
  ]
}
</script>

 

What NEXT 


We hope that this blog has provided you valuable information on Schema. We will continue to update the content in the future to ensure that it stays current and relevant.

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