General research

Guides and tutorial resources

1. Schema.org
2. Google
   1. Introduction to Structured Data | Google Developers
   2. Markup Helper
   3. About Structured Data Markup Helper | Search Console Help
   4. Articles  |  Search  |  Google Developers addresses the difference between the treatment of AMP pages with and without structured data
   5. Structured Data Markup Helper

Video:

1. How to Add Structured Data to WordPress | YouTube (plugin adds some schema.org markup to your pages)

Google format preference

Microdata and JSON-LD are two different ways to mark up your data using the schema.org vocabulary. It’s best to choose either microdata or JSON-LD and avoid using both types on a single page or email. Google prefers microdata for web content. Microdata uses HTML tags and attributes to define data. S: Markup Helper.

JSON-LD is the recommended format. Google is in the process of adding JSON-LD support for all markup-powered features. The table below lists the exceptions to this. We recommend using JSON-LD where possible. S: Introduction to Structured Data | Google Developers.

Google’s structured data format preference?

structured data google preferred formats.

Of the three supported formats, JSON-LD, RDFa, and microdata, Google preferred format Structured Data Markup microdata vs JSON-LD:

… a summary of the format of structured data markup Google recommends for specific goals. S: Structured Data Markup Formats: Microdata vs JSON-LD vs RDFa | Engage The Crowd (2016-04-18).

We have seen lots of evidence that Google seemed to be skewing towards JSON-LD as their preferred schema markup, particularly as new types are introduced. They said a year ago that they were supporting more JSON-LD and did recommend JSON-LD for some specific types of rich snippets at that time. They began showing JSON-LD for recipe rich snippets last year too. S: JSON-LD Google’s Preferred Structured Data Markup | The SEM Post (2016-10-21; jsonld | The SEM Post).

Schema types

Schema.org‘s list of commonly used types:

• Creative works: CreativeWork, Book, Movie, MusicRecording, Recipe, TVSeries …
• Embedded non-text objects: AudioObject, ImageObject, VideoObject
• Event
• Health and medical types: notes on the health and medical types under MedicalEntity
• Organization
• Person
• Place, LocalBusiness, Restaurant …
• Product, Offer, AggregateOffer
• Review, AggregateRating
• Action

Full Hierarchy | schema.org is the full list of types, shown on one page.

A Guide To Schema Markup & Structured Data SEO Opportunities By Site Type (2015-09-25) recommends which schemas you should use on your website. Excerpts:

Summary of recommendations:

1. all sites (can and should be used across all different site types because they’re not specific to any vertical or industry.)
   1. The organization schema markup helps generate brand signals which can enhance your Knowledge Graph entry and website snippet presence in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
   2. The WebSite schema markup helps generate the Sitelinks Search Box feature for brand SERPs and can help your site name to appear in search results. You must, of course, have an existing site search on your website to enable the Sitelinks Search Box element.
   3. The BreadcrumbList schema allows you to mark up the breadcrumbs on your site to generate breadcrumb rich snippets for your pages in the SERPs.
   4. The SiteNavigationElement markup can help increase search engines’ understanding of your site structure and navigation and can be used to influence organic sitelinks.
   5. A site with embedded or hosted video content can leverage the VideoObject schema. Google primarily displays video rich snippets for YouTube videos, but this will help video rich snippets to appear for your Web pages in Google Video Search.
   6. Leverage the SoftwareApplication markup on your software apps to enable app rich snippets.
2. E-Commerce Sites
   1. Schema Product & Offer Markup
   2. Schema Rating Markup
3. Publisher Sites
   1. Schema Article Markup
4. Local Business Sites: Schema Local Business Markup
5. Event Sites: Event Schema Markup
6. Recipe Sites: Recipe Schema Markup
7. Personal Sites: Schema Person Markup

WordPress plugins

Tools

SEO ranking value

Despite the buzz around Schema, our data shows that use of Schema markup doesn’t correlate with higher rankings.

We Analyzed 1 Million Google Search Results. Here’s What We Learned About SEO (2016-09-02)

“… according to our analysis, the presence of structured data had no relationship with Google rankings.” However, “… Google’s John Mueller hinted that they might use structured data as a ranking signal in the future.” (S: Google May Add Structured Markup & Data To Ranking Algorithm (2016-09-11)). “… use structured data on your site. But don’t expect it to have an impact on your rankings.”

structured markup impact on search engine ranking: Schema.org Structured Data – Learn SEO – Moz – Moz excerpt:

Structured data’s effect on rankings

Whether structured data affects rankings has been the subject of much discussion and many experiments. As of yet, there is no conclusive evidence that this markup improves rankings. But there are some indications that search results with more extensive rich snippets (like those created using Schema) will have a better click-through rate. For best results, experiment with Schema markup to see how your audience responds to the resulting rich snippets.

The Ultimate Guide to Factors That Don’t Affect Search Rankings | Neil Patel (2015-09-22) (October’s visitors, 406,821). Excerpts:

SEOs and webmasters have been using Schema markup over the last four years or so, for the purpose of improving their listings in search results.

Since the markup is HTML code, you can use them to markup your pages so that search engine spiders can understand your page better.

Schema.org is the site in charge of providing markup. The site came about when Google, Yahoo!, Yandex, and Bing agreed that search results should be somewhat consistent across the search engines.

… does adding a Schema markup improve search rankings? Absolutely not.

Matt Cutts, Google’s head of Webspam, in his popular video Q&A segment, said that the simple inclusion of Schema markup on a website won’t necessarily provide any ranking benefit.

Just because a particular web page is marked up with HTML codes that will help search engines understand the content of the page better doesn’t mean that the page is more useful or relevant than other pages.

So, what’s the benefit of using Schema markup? Well, if you want long-term search engine results – i.e., a higher click-through rate and better branding – then you’ve got to spending time optimizing your rich snippets.

According to data published on Search Engine Land, rich snippets like the one below can increase organic CTR by up to 30%. This also means that you’ll likely double or even triple your organic traffic.

SEL 2011 post

“… structured markup actually leads to a 30 percent increase in your site’s click-through-rate .… a CMS with fully integrated and dynamic Schema support. What’s not to like about a 30 percent increase in organic CTR?” S: Structured Data Markup 101: Understanding the Importance | The SEM Post (2015). The “30 percent increase” is from How To Get A 30% Increase In CTR With Structured Markup, a 2011 post.

[The] latest research points out that more than 36% of the Google search results incorporate Schema rich snippets that attract greater attention and traffic when displayed in the SERPs. S: Schema Markup – Rich Snippets in WordPress to boost SEO | WPism.

Searchmetrics analysis 2014

The “latest research” is the URL of Schema.org analysis 2014 | Searchmetrics (2014). The lede is “Over a third of Google search results incorporate Rich Snippets supported by Schema finds new Searchmetrics study; But only 0.3% of websites are making use of the Google approved Schema tool.” The Searchmetrics study, Schema.org – U.S. 2014: Rich Snippets With HTML Microdata And RDF.