Schema Markup - What is it and how is it useful?

Schema Markup is one of the latest trends in SEO. It is the least utilized but irrefutably most potent form of optimization for SEO. Learning and implementing the concept of schema markup surely helps you to boost the ranking of your website on SERPs.

By utilizing structured data, search engines return more informative results for users on putting it in the form of code on your website.

Schema Markup is helpful for users to understand the meaning of the content.

When having schema markup on your website, there is a difference in indexing and return in search results of your content though it is meaningful for the user.

Let's say the word "Digital Marketing Benefits" appears on a blog that search engine notices to produce a SERP entry with "Digital Marketing Benefits." In case if you have right Schema Markup around these words, such that I have told search engines about the benefits of digital marketing by keeping words in H1or H2 format. Then information which would display for user come out as more meaningful by showing it in H1 or H2 format as Benefits of Digital Marketing in 2020.

Structured Data prefers semantic vocabulary that is unique in microdata format.

The use of HTML on web pages eases you from learning any new coding skills. But you need to understand the addition of schema.org bits to HTML microdata.

Schema.org is a website developed by the collaboration of Yahoo, Bing, Google. Here, you can find various schemas to markup HTML pages by webmasters that search engines recognize. It also helps with structured data interoperability. By such search engines improve on the display of search results for people to quickly find the required information.

Schema Markup is useful for any content.

By having Schema Markup helps your website to up rank for all types of content. Such as:

• Book reviews
• Movies
• Restaurants
• Articles
• Events
• Ratings of TV episodes
• Local businesses
• Products
• Software applications

You can get markups for several types from bookstore to schedule of the doctor. So if you have scope to add schema markup on your website, then you should make full use of it for better user experience and to rank your site upwards. Currently, 33 % of google search results have rich snippets that include schema markup. Also, the websites that are not using schema markup are less than?. So obviously, by using schema markup, you can stay ahead of competition from millions of websites.

How to use schema on your website?

We have discussed above that schema markups help us to look and rank better on SERPs. Now let's talk about how we can use schema markup.

1. First, go to Google's structured data markup helper.
2. You will get displayed a list of categories there, select the appropriate data category you want to markup.
3. Below you get a space to paste the URL of the page that you want to markup, proceed by pasting URL, and click start tagging. A page providing you with the next phase workspace for markup will load in the markup tool. Your webpage appears on the left pane and data items on the right pane.
4. Then highlight the required elements that you want to markup and select an appropriate component from the tooltip. Later, the tool adds the selected item in the "Data Items" on the right pane.
5. You can repeat this process of highlighting and selecting elements multiple times to markup other items. But you may not be able to use this markup for every aspect of your content.
6. After this, click "CREATE HTML" on top of my data items. Next, you will find HTML of your page with relevantly inserted microdata.
7. For adding schema markup to your webpage, you need to go into your CMS or source code, then at appropriate spots, add the highlighted snippets. To find schema markup code refer to yellow markers on the scrollbar on HTML source with microdata markup. Alternatively, you can also download the automatically-generated HTML file by clicking "Download" on top of the HTML source with a microdata markup. Following it, click "Finish" to proceed with the next steps.
8. By using a Structured data testing tool from webmaster tools, find out the appearance of your page with added markup. Get a preview of your content by pasting your HTML code in the structured data testing bar. You can also inspect every markup element you have added.

Schema markup is a future for SEO

Even though schema markup is easier to use, the majority of businesses and websites haven't used it yet. It is one of the most powerful tools of SEO that would have significant value in the future.

It is the time to comprehend and implement relevant microdata for improving your search results. If you do it right away, you will lead among your competitors though it is an essential consideration for your website. "How do you use schema markup?"

Neha Gupta is a digital marketing professional working for a digital marketing company in India.