{"id":3534,"date":"2013-07-15T08:17:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T08:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/?p=3534"},"modified":"2013-07-15T08:42:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T08:42:07","slug":"structured-data-and-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/structured-data-and-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Structured Data and SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3546\" alt=\"SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/shutterstock_74673958-580x434.jpg\" width=\"580\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/shutterstock_74673958-580x434.jpg 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/shutterstock_74673958-400x300.jpg 400w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/shutterstock_74673958.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Structured data<\/b> can be identified as data that provide information in a meaningful and descriptive way. Especially for the SEO world structured data, which are displayed in the shape of <b>rich snippets<\/b>, which are rich data that are displayed in the SERPs for the users\u2019 convenience, as shown in the screenshot below:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Rich Snippets and SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.25.23-PM.png\" width=\"572\" height=\"169\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Structured data- whom does it concern? <\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Webmasters and SEO professionals that handle websites that are related to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Owners of\u00a0 e-commerce websites; retail industry (and generally if you sell products via the internet)<\/li>\n<li>Reviews (e.g. imdb.com \u2013 movies, TV episodes)<\/li>\n<li>Products (from retail industry for instance)<\/li>\n<li>Businesses\/Organisations (e.g. restaurants, hotels)<\/li>\n<li>Recipes<\/li>\n<li>Events<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Types of Structured Data<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Schema.org <\/b>It is in a way a vocabulary that allows webmasters to embed structured data on their webpages which will be visible by search engines<b>. <\/b>This shared markup vocabulary is fully compatible to search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing<b>. <\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Microformats <\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Microdata <\/b>According to Google \u2018\u2019is a way to label content to describe a specific type of information\u2014for example, reviews, person information, or events\u2019\u2019 and \u00a0Google suggests the use of microdata.<b><\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>RDFa (Resource Description Frameworks in Attributes) <\/b><\/li>\n<li>Data marked up using Data Highlighter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>(How structured data work)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3553\" alt=\"Structured Data Process\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-6.40.42-PM-580x378.png\" width=\"580\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-6.40.42-PM-580x378.png 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-6.40.42-PM-1024x669.png 1024w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-6.40.42-PM-459x300.png 459w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-6.40.42-PM.png 1027w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But why are <b>structured data<\/b> important for the <b>SEO<\/b> (Users, webmasters\/SEO professionals and search engines)?\u00a0 Their importance lies on 4 factors which are inter-linked:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Data\/Information that make more sense<\/li>\n<li>Increased visibility on search engines<\/li>\n<li>Increased CTR<\/li>\n<li>Increased ROI<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Data\/information that make more sense. \u00a0<\/b>One of the things that search engines are working on and constantly they get better and better is the relevancy of content that they retrieve for users when they perform a query and thus structured data is one step towards that direction with the appearance of rich snippets on our SERPs.<\/p>\n<p>For example when we perform a query for \u2018\u2019Scorpions\u2019\u2019 it is most likely that we have information for the venomous species of scorpions but at the same time we get data for the band Scorpions (and was the objective of our query; to obtain data for the band). With the help of structured data search engines help users to identify easier the information they need and they get a plethora of information (e.g Ratings, reviews, price etc.)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3538\" alt=\"Rich Snippets and SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-9.59.16-AM1-580x116.png\" width=\"580\" height=\"116\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-9.59.16-AM1-580x116.png 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-9.59.16-AM1-500x100.png 500w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-9.59.16-AM1.png 581w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Increased visibility on search engines. <\/b>So far it has not been proven yet that structured data can influence the rankings on search engine results, but what is self-explanatory is the fact that rich snippets are holding more space on the SERPs.<\/p>\n<p>On the SERPs what a user sees are the title tag and the metadescription snippets along with the URLs or the navigation menu snippets, as you can see on the example below (for recipes London broil marinade):<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3537\" alt=\"Rich Snippets and SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.28.08-PM.png\" width=\"544\" height=\"98\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.28.08-PM.png 544w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.28.08-PM-500x90.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>However, when it comes to <b>structured data<\/b> and how they appear on the form of <b>rich snippets<\/b>, the users can easily discern the difference in terms of content and that\u2019s why rich snippets bring increased visibility on search engines. As seen in the example below for the same keyphrase, rich snippets appear in the form of ratings, reviews, calories and preparation time. Definitely this plethora of info can gain the attention of users.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/structured-data-and-seo\/screen-shot-2013-07-11-at-6-27-50-pm\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3540\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3540\" alt=\"Rich Snippets and SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.27.50-PM.png\" width=\"545\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.27.50-PM.png 545w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-11-at-6.27.50-PM-500x118.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a start if we want to analyze not in depth but just to make a first step and demystify structured data, we can use this site and looking through its source code from which \u00a0we can recognize the rich snippets that appear on SERPs. Initially we define the microdata format within the schema.org which is \u2018\u2019Recipe\u2019\u2019 .<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3541\" alt=\"Rich Snippets and SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.03.35-AM-580x13.png\" width=\"580\" height=\"13\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.03.35-AM-580x13.png 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.03.35-AM-1024x23.png 1024w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.03.35-AM-500x11.png 500w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.03.35-AM.png 1144w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In order to get the \u2018\u2019stars\u2019\u2019 that you see on rich snippets, the itemprop should be placed accordingly and should be defined with its respective attribute: AggregateRating<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3542\" alt=\"Structured Data using schema.org\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.02.41-AM1-580x19.png\" width=\"580\" height=\"19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.02.41-AM1-580x19.png 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.02.41-AM1-500x16.png 500w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.02.41-AM1.png 710w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 635 reviews appear on SERPs because the itemprop includes the reviewCount attribute which allows webmasters and users to see in the form of rich snippets on SERPs, the number of reviews.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3543\" alt=\"Structured Data and Schema.Org Markup\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.04.53-AM-580x16.png\" width=\"580\" height=\"16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.04.53-AM-580x16.png 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.04.53-AM-500x14.png 500w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.04.53-AM.png 594w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The number of calories (396) which appears on SERPs is attributed to this item type: NutritionInformation, based\u00a0 on which the respective\u00a0 itemprop is included and thus it appears on our SERPs.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3544\" alt=\"Structured Data and Schema.org \" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.05.46-AM-580x88.png\" width=\"580\" height=\"88\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.05.46-AM-580x88.png 580w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.05.46-AM-1024x155.png 1024w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.05.46-AM-500x76.png 500w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.05.46-AM.png 1026w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The overall time for preparation which appears as rich snippets on SERPs is defined by this attribute: totalTime , according to the microdata format.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3545\" alt=\"Structured Data and SEO\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.06.26-AM.png\" width=\"557\" height=\"52\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.06.26-AM.png 557w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Screen-Shot-2013-07-12-at-10.06.26-AM-500x46.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So with these simple way (e.g using schema.org)\u00a0 we are able to markup our pages and be easily recognizable by search engines\u00a0 and for users with rich snippets (which is the visual result of our attempt to markup our page).<\/p>\n<p><b>Increased CTR . <\/b>When users see the abundance of information that is available on SEPRs it is most likely to click on the type of rich snippets that are most relevant to the information that they are looking for. More clicks are most likely to lead to increase number of users which are most likely to convert.<b> <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Increased ROI.\u00a0 <\/b>The 3 previous steps are logical paths that can lead to the next sequence, which is increased ROI; users that are able to retrieve relevant content to what they are looking for and by finding rich snippets it is most likely for users to click on the page and it is most likely for the users to spend more time within the website (e.g e-commerce site) and proceed to an online purchase. You need to bear in mind that these rich snippets contain reviews of a product or online ratings which operate as votes of confidence of other users for this product or recipe; thus it is most likely for a user to trust a site with high ratings and reviews and consecutively it is most likely for the user to purchase something online.<\/p>\n<p>Having sorted out notions, like structured data, rich snippets, microdata schema.org, the next post will concern concepts and tools like the Data Highlighter and the Structured Data Markup Helper, describing the process of generating structured data using various examples, so that we demystify this field.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Structured data can be identified as data that provide information in a meaningful and descriptive way. Especially for the SEO world structured data, which are displayed in the shape of rich snippets, which are rich data that are displayed in &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/structured-data-and-seo\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3568,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions\/3568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}