Unlock the Power of Schema Markup for Better Search Results

In the rapidly evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), staying updated with the latest techniques and practices is crucial for website owners and digital marketers. 

One such practice that has gained significant importance is Schema Markup. 

Schema Markups have been around for a while now, but only recently have they started to gain attention from content creators based on their great potential to attract searchers’ eyes by highlighting and summarizing key information on SERPs. 

In this article, we will explore the concept of Schema Markup, and its relevance in SEO for 2024 and beyond, and provide valuable insights, code examples, and case studies to enhance your understanding.

Why Is Schema Structured Data Important to SEO?

Schema data is the way to organize and markup your website’s content so that search engines can better understand it.

And can greatly impact your website’s performance on SERPs:

Richer search results: This enables search engines to display additional information about your website in search results, such as star ratings, prices, and event dates. Making your website more appealing to searchers, will lead to higher click-through rates (CTRs).

Improved rankings: Let’s be very clear: Schemas are not a ranking factor for any search engine. But by displaying information in a concise manner.

For example, if you have a product page with structured data markup, you may be more likely to rank for search results that include product reviews & pricing.

Increased visibility: Makes your website more visible in search results. For example, when a searcher Goggles for specific product documentation, if the documentation schema is properly implemented, they will not just get the website at the top but also a highlighted piece of content or an answer to a question from that product documentation itself.

What Are The Formats Of Schema Markup?

There are currently three schema markup formats for WordPress SEO: 

• JSON-LD: is lightweight, easy to read and write, and supported by all major search engines.
• Microdata: older format, still supported, but more difficult to implement and maintain than JSON-LD.
• RDFa: is an even older format, still supported, but even more difficult to implement and maintain than Microdata.

JSON-LD is the most popular format of schema markup because it is easy to implement and maintain, and it is supported by all major search engines.

Here is an example of JSON-LD schema markup for a recipe:

{
"@type": "Recipe",
"name": "Chocolate Chip Cookies",
"image": "https://example.com/chocolate-chip-cookies.jpg",
"ingredients": [
"1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened",
"1 cup granulated sugar",
"1 cup packed light brown sugar",
"2 large eggs",
"2 teaspoons vanilla extract",
"2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour",
"1 teaspoon baking soda",
"1 teaspoon salt",
"1 cup semisweet chocolate chips"
],
"instructions": [
"Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).",
"Cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.",
"Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.",
"In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.",
"Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.",
"Stir in the chocolate chips.",
"Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.",
"Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.",
"Let cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely."
]
}

Before we get down to more details, SEO experts must have full knowledge of schema guidelines provided by popular search engine platforms like Google, Bing, Yahoo,

For you’re convenience, here are direct links to search engine documentation/guidelines for schema & data structure:

Google: General structured data guidelines

Bing: Webmaster guidelines on data structure

Yahoo: DataX Formats, Schemas, Identifiers & Limits

Whether you’re a website owner, digital marketer, & SEO aficionado, you should always be up to date with the current schema & data structure guidelines for search engines.

Real-World Schema Markup Use Case for SEO

We can talk about theories, types of markups that we can use, and the benefits of using them. Let’s focus on the real-world application of schema, especially on WordPress websites. 

‘’ WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, powering over 43% of all websites on the internet. It has a total market share of 63.3%, and 36% of the world’s top 1 million websites use WordPress to power their sites.’’

This makes it important for WordPress website owners to ensure their websites are ready for SERPs to pick up on key information. 

Since we’re talking about WordPress, we can use a flexible plugin or schema-optimized theme to remove the need for hard-coding schema data on our websites. 

These themes and plugins can automatically generate schema for our content, making it easier to improve our SEO and get rich snippets in search results.

Example of Using Plugins for SEO Schema:

For product documentation and website navigation, breadcrumbs, timestamps, and FAQs are important. For this specific purpose, we can take advantage of using a documentation builder plugin like EazyDocs for its built-in schema structure.

An example of its breadcrumb schema on WordPress:

EazyDocs is a great example of how users can focus on creating content for their website and let the best community-made schema plugins automatically generate schema data structures.

This is how the breadcrumb schema should look on SERPs:

An example of its FAQ schema on WordPress:

Another great example of a plugin-generated schema is using the RankMath SEO plugin to create an FAQ section. Which can be easily identified by search engines.

Types of Schema Markup That WordPress Websites Can Benefit From:

WordPress websites can benefit from many different types of schema markup, depending on the type of content that the website publishes.

Here are some examples:

Article Schema

Article schema is ideal for blog posts, news articles, and other forms of written content. It provides structured information about the article, including the headline, author, and publication date.

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "5 Tips for Effective Content Marketing",
"author": "John Doe",
"datePublished": "2024-09-15"
}

Product Schema

Product schema is crucial for e-commerce websites, as it allows search engines to understand and display details about products, such as name, price, availability, and reviews.

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"name": "Smartphone Model X",
"description": "A cutting-edge smartphone with advanced features.",
"brand": "Brand Name",
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"priceCurrency": "USD",
"price": "999.99",
"availability": "InStock"
}
}

Recipe Schema

Recipe schema caters specifically to food-related content, providing details about recipes, including ingredients, cooking instructions, and nutrition facts.

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Recipe",
"name": "Classic Spaghetti Bolognese",
"author": "Jane Doe",
"cookTime": "PT30M",
"recipeIngredient": [
"250g spaghetti",
"200g ground beef",
"1 can tomato sauce",
…
],
"recipeInstructions": "…"
}

Event Schema

Event schema is beneficial for websites promoting events. It provides essential details like event name, date, location, and organizer information.

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Event",
"name": "Tech Summit 2024",
"startDate": "2024-10-20T09:00",
"endDate": "2024-10-21T18:00",
"location": {
"@type": "Place",
"name": "Convention Center",
"address": "123 Main St, Cityville"
},
"organizer": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Tech Events Inc."
}
}

Video Schema

Video schema enhances the visibility of video content by providing structured information about the video, including title, description, duration, and thumbnail URL. For example, if you run a channel featuring tutorials, you can implement a video schema to help search engines display rich snippets of your videos. Using a video editor, you can ensure that your videos are well-edited and optimized before adding schema markup. This combination of quality content and proper schema can significantly improve your SEO results.

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "VideoObject",
"name": "Introduction to Machine Learning",
"description": "A brief overview of machine learning concepts.",
"duration": "PT2M30S",
"thumbnailUrl": "http://example.com/thumbnail.jpg",
"contentUrl": "http://example.com/video.mp4"
}

FAQ Schema

FAQ Schema is like a cheat sheet for search engines to understand your question & answer pages. It helps them show off your answers in fancy, clickable snippets in search results.

<script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the shipping options?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "We offer standard shipping for $5 and express shipping for $10. Orders over $50 qualify for free standard shipping." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the return policy?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "You can return most items within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. Items must be in original condition with tags attached." } } ] } </script>

Book Schema

Book schema serves as a digital passport for your books, unlocking enhanced visibility and user engagement in the vast realm of online searches. Book schemas can contain outline, highlighting its title, author, review, where to buy, captivating summary, etc.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Book",
"name": "The Lord of the Rings",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "J.R.R. Tolkien"
},
"description": "An epic fantasy trilogy that follows the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he journeys to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron.",
"isbn": "9780547928220",
"publisher": "HarperCollins",
"datePublished": "1954-07-29",
"image": "https://example.com/book-cover.jpg",
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": 4.7,
"reviewCount": 1234
}
}

FactCheck Schema

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "ClaimReview",
"itemReviewed": {
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"url": "https://www.example.com/original-page" // URL of the content with the claim
},
"claimReviewer": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Organization Name",
"url": "https://www.yourorganization.com" // URL of your organization
},
"claim": "The population of Earth is 8 billion.",
"reviewRating": {
"@type": "Rating",
"ratingValue": "True" // Change to "Mostly True", "False", etc. as needed
},
"url": "https://www.yourwebsite.com/fact-check-page" // URL of your fact check page
}

Fact Check Schema, also known as ClaimReview, helps users understand the truthfulness of claims found online by highlighting fact-check reviews. Search engines like Google can then display these reviews in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), providing context and increasing user trust.

Course Schema

Course Schema is a valuable tool for marking up information about educational courses on your website. This helps search engines understand and display your courses in relevant search results, potentially increasing their visibility and attracting more students.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Course",
"name": "Introduction to Machine Learning",
"description": "This course covers the fundamentals of machine learning, including algorithms, applications, and implementation.",
"provider": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your University"
},
"url": "https://www.yourwebsite.com/courses/machine-learning",
"hasCourseInstance": [
{
"@type": "CourseInstance",
"startDate": "2024-09-01",
"endDate": "2024-12-15",
"instructor": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Dr. Alice Smith"
},
"location": {
"@type": "Place",
"name": "Your University, Room 203"
},
"sameAs": "https://www.yourwebsite.com/courses/machine-learning/fall2024" // Optional link to course registration page
}
]
}

Dataset Schema

Dataset schema refers to the structure and organization of data within a dataset. It essentially defines the layout and meaning of each data point, allowing efficient storage, retrieval, and analysis.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Dataset",
"name": "My Awesome Dataset",
"description": "A dataset containing information about [brief description of data]",
"url": "https://www.yourwebsite.com/dataset-page/",
"sameAs": [
"https://doi.org/10.1234/your-dataset-doi" // Add DOI if available
],
"keywords": [
"keyword1",
"keyword2",
// …
],
"creator": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Organization Name",
"url": "https://www.yourorganization.com"
},
"distribution": {
"@type": "DataDownload",
"contentUrl": "https://www.yourwebsite.com/data-download-link",
"encodingFormat": "CSV" // Update format based on your dataset
},
"license": {
"@type": "CreativeWorkOrText",
"name": "CC Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)"
},
"variableMeasured": [
{
"@type": "Property",
"name": "variable_name_1",
"description": "A description of variable 1"
},
{
"@type": "Property",
"name": "variable_name_2",
"description": "A description of variable 2"
},
// …
]
}

Carousel Schema

The term ‘carousel,’ also referred to as an item list, is employed to showcase rich results in the form of a scrollable list for users to navigate through. The primary content formats featured in the carousel include courses, movies, recipes, and restaurants.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "ItemList",
"itemListElement": [
{
"@type": "Article",
"name": "How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies",
"url": "https://example.com/peanut-butter-cookies.html",
"image": "https://example.com/peanut-butter-cookies.jpg"
},
{
"@type": "Article",
"name": "How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies",
"url": "https://example.com/chocolate-chip-cookies.html",
"image": "https://example.com/chocolate-chip-cookies.jpg"
},
{
"@type": "Article",
"name": "How to Make Snickerdoodles",
"url": "https://example.com/snickerdoodles.html",
"image": "https://example.com/snickerdoodles.jpg"
}
]
}

How-to Schema

The “How-to” schema markup allows you to present a detailed, step-by-step guide for accomplishing a task, supplemented with pertinent images or videos.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "HowTo",
"name": "How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich",
"description": "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a classic American snack or lunch food. It is made with two slices of bread, peanut butter, and jelly.",
"estimatedCost": {
"@type": "MonetaryAmount",
"currency": "USD",
"value": 0.50
},
"totalTime": "PT5M",
"supply": [
{
"@type": "HowToSupply",
"name": "2 slices of bread"
},
{
"@type": "HowToSupply",
"name": "1 tablespoon of peanut butter"
},
{
"@type": "HowToSupply",
"name": "1 tablespoon of jelly"
}
],
"step": [
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Wash your hands."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Get two slices of bread."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Spread jelly on the other slice of bread."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Put the two slices of bread together, with the peanut butter and jelly facing each other."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Cut the sandwich in half, and enjoy!"
}
]
}

Sitelinks Schema

Sitelinks schema is a type of structured data that can be used to display additional navigational links within your search results. These links can be to important pages on your website, such as your homepage, products page, or contact page.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "ItemList",
"itemListElement": [
{
"@type": "WebPage",
"name": "Home",
"url": "https://example.com/"
},
{
"@type": "WebPage",
"name": "About Us",
"url": "https://example.com/about/"
},
{
"@type": "WebPage",
"name": "Contact Us",
"url": "https://example.com/contact/"
}
]
}

General-Purpose Schema Types:

1. Organization Schema:
   • Provides information about an organization, including the organization name, logo, contact details, and social media profiles.
2. Person Schema:
   • Offers structured data about an individual, including name, job title, and contact information.
3. LocalBusiness Schema:
   • Ideal for local businesses, providing details such as name, address, phone number, and operating hours.

While these examples cover widely used schema types, it’s worth noting that there are additional specialized schema structures available.

However, the aforementioned ones are prevalent and highly effective for achieving high rankings on various websites, including WordPress

Conclusion

In 2024, integrating schema markup into your website will be a pivotal component of effective search engine optimization. In the dynamic realm of SEO, keeping abreast of schema changes and updates is instrumental in enhancing your website’s visibility and credibility, ultimately resulting in increased traffic and conversions.

Harnessing the potential of schema allows for a more seamless interaction with search engines, aiding them in comprehending the content and context of your website.

This, in turn, facilitates an easier discovery process for your target audience. To gain a competitive edge, it’s high time to incorporate schema markup into your SEO strategy and reap the manifold benefits it offers.

Frequently Asked Questions on Schema