If you use Google as often as we do, you’ll notice that sometimes the information on your results page is… scarily accurate. The hours of a new restaurant in town or recent posts from your favorite news source seem to be magically pulled from the website and onto the top of the results page.
Is Google reading your mind? No, they are just using Schema.
What is Schema, anyway?
Schema, also referred to as Structured Data Markup, is code that you can apply to the information on your website. This code assists search engines in identifying what all the elements of your site mean.
If you write about the Rolling Stones on your blog, schema identifies that the Rolling Stones is a band, “Satisfaction” is a song, Mick Jagger is a band member, and all kinds of other information that humans use to make connections, but computers cannot always piece together.
Why is Schema important?
Search engines look at the information on your website, but they don’t know what it all means.
So, say you own a venue with events every night. With proper schema markup, the Google results page will display those events’ details with a link to purchase tickets when someone searches for something to do that night.
This is a total game-changer for helping your website stand out from the other search results.
Does it get any better than this?
Yes! Schema is evolving and adapting to the way people use technology.
In 2023, there were 145.1 million voice assistant users in the US. Between Siri and Cortana, almost all smartphones are voice search capable, as well.
Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 65% of 25- to 49-year-olds use voice-enabled devices at least once a day, which makes Schema more important than ever. The context that schema provides helps users find information using casual semantic phrasing for questions like “How many deer live in Michigan?”. This becomes important to businesses when users want to get information like “Where can I buy cupcakes at 11 pm?”.
How Can I Get Schema on my Site?
Great question! Top of the List is one of the few SEO firms serving small to medium-sized companies that are invested in Schema markup.
Google and other sites offer some tools and instructions on how to add Structured Data, but we recommend working with an SEO professional to implement Schema on your pages. Since Schema is time-consuming and can get complicated very quickly, experienced SEO specialists can get the best results for how your website will appear in search results.
About the Author
Mandie joined Top Of The List in 2018 and has a degree in Web Development. She lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her dog Winnie.