When it comes to Search Engine Optimisation, there are so many strategies you can use to raise your ranking in search engine results pages via ‘organic’ means. 

The key is to get the search engine algorithms to recognise that your website is the obvious choice, and pair you with the most relevant users and searches to not only increase visibility but also click-through rates and conversions as well. 

One important way to up those conversions is by utilising the many tools available to you, such as using schema markup. In this blog, we will explore schema markup in greater depth and determine how it can be used to benefit your business, online.

What is schema markup?

Schema markup is essentially the process of telling a search engine exactly what your website, and each individual page, is about. 

This helps the search engine algorithm to better understand what your business is about, and place you in the relevant search results – and (potentially) at a higher standing than your competitors. The clearer and more concise your schema markup, the easier it is for the likes of Google to position you accordingly. 

All the major search engines now recognise schema and use schema markup as a part of their ranking process. Whether users are searching on Google, Bing or Yahoo, adding context to your webpage through schema markup can help your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and therefore your likely traffic and click-through rates from potential customers.

Bear in mind there is no evidence to suggest that optimising your schema markup will actively improve your ranking position. However, it can help your website to appear in more searches given the fact that it enables you to better indicate what it is that you do, thus improving your relevancy. 

That, combined with engaging and well-written meta descriptions will significantly increase your chances of people clicking through to your website. 

How is schema markup used?

Schema markup is used in the header of your pages. It is a few lines of code that specify precisely what your page is about. 

There are different types of schemas in general, and within these larger categories, you can specify by a variety of criteria. For example, within the product schema, you could go into details, such as name, price, brand, and much more.

In this way, a blog website created in the UK with featured articles about the Sun, for example, schema can be used to specify that the website and the content within relate to the celestial body in the sky – and not the well-known Newspaper. 

It can also clarify whether the Easter eggs referenced are the chocolatey kind, or those that contain a secret message, feature or action hidden within movies, books, and video games.

You can clearly see how this would have a big impact on the kind of search results you would show up in, and how relevant the search would be in relation to your business.

You will of course need to know about coding and how it works to successfully implement your schema markup.

Or alternatively, if you have neither the time nor desire to learn how, you can let the team at CSME Marketing do the hard work for you. 

With years of combined experience and knowledge, you can rest assured that we will optimize your website’s schema markup with expert precision and creative flare. That way, your pages will provide all the information they need to rank appropriately – and potentially higher – when the likes of Google crawl the web. 

Once you have coded your schema, you must split-test to make sure that it is working properly. There are a number of tools you can use to do this including Google Search Console and the Google Structured Data Testing tool (among others). 

Once you have checked your code and see that your schema markup is in effect, you will soon start to notice an impact in the click-through rates from your search results.

That said, this is just one aspect of a much larger search engine optimization strategy. Not only that, but the content on your website must be relevant and concise, the site itself must be fast, responsive, and user-friendly, and so much more. 

What are the different types of schemas?

There are hundreds of agreed-upon schemas that you could possibly use for your web pages, with many different types, properties and enumerations. 

The more common types include the product, place, and person, and should be included wherever possible – and be relevant. 

If your site needs to be more specific, it is highly recommended that you leave your schema to the professionals. 

CSME Marketing can make your schema markup as detailed and precise as possible. 

The key different types of schema are:

• Creative works – e.g., Article, Book, Movie, Recipe and so on.

• Embedded non-text objects – Pictures and images with names like AudioObject and ImageObject when you are marking them up.

• Organisation – fairly self-explanatory, naming which organisation or organisations your page is about.

• Person – again the person or persons that feature heavily. This, when added to the other schema, will narrow down which person you mean, for example, Shakespeare’s wife, or the actress Anne Hathaway.

• Place – whether it is a Local Business or a Restaurant, the ‘place’ can have a huge impact on the context of your page.

• Product – within the product itself you can add how much it costs, the brand, name and many other details to get as specific as you can.

• Event – includes the ‘when,’ ‘where,’ and ‘what’ of any event from concerts to webinars online.

All these and more help to frame your web page in the right kind of context to ensure that search engines recognise you for what you are, and where your website should be displayed. 

Why is schema markup useful?

Schema markup is useful not only as a part of your SEO but also your Search Engine Marketing, or SEM. 

As discussed, while schemas are not the key criteria in search engine algorithms that give you your position in the results, they do help the search engine to understand and interpret what your page is about. This then helps to improve the relevancy of your rankings and can increase customer response and satisfaction. 

By ensuring that your webpages are as targeted as possible, you ensure that someone looking for information about how to grow apples, doesn’t end up seeing your Apple products, but someone looking for a new phone does. 

A better customer experience can also improve your rank with search engines and with the customers themselves.

SEM often requires that you have schema markups in place when you begin an ad campaign. Google ads, for instance, insist on schema to help make your ad a success on their platform and across their partner sites. If it is useful here, it is useful in SEO as well.

Conclusion

There are a great many steps you can take to try and improve your visibility and position in search engine results pages, including utilising schema markups to help put your page in context. 

By helping the search engine to interpret and understand the information available, you will be more likely to get paired with the users who find your products or information helpful and gain more sales in the long run.

Again, good SEO requires so much more than merely ranking well. You need to attract people to click on the link, visit your website, and then nurture them from mere ‘clicks’ to paying and returning customers. 

For more information about schemas and how to get them to work for your business, contact us and speak with one of our highly qualified experts today.