Latitude-Longitude Discussion

[Mich]

Hey Guys

How important is setting up the latitude/longitude on your site (using the schema)?

I find that some sites (which have PINs) don't quite get the exact same point anyway, so will have slight differences so I am thinking either 1 of the 2 statements is true:

1. Latitude and longitude coordinates give you a slight edge over your competitors that don't have them that you should take advantage of

OR

2. Latitude and longitude coordinates just create another potential NAP/citation conflict - particularly in sites where you don't control where they put the pin on the map - so you might as well avoid them since they are not all that important...

Let me know your thoughts and whether or not you fall into camp (1) or camp (2)!

Thanks

 

[JoyHawkins]

I actually don't think Schema in general is much of a ranking factor. I still do it as a best practice but would say it's one of the minor ranking factors, not major. I think it can't hurt to have long/lat on there but I wouldn't stress over it.

 

[Tim Colling]

I actually don't think Schema in general is much of a ranking factor. I still do it as a best practice but would say it's one of the minor ranking factors, not major...

I'm surprised to hear you say that, Joy, since so many people say otherwise.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Tim,

It was #25 (out of 50) on the Local Search Ranking Factors (https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors) so I think it is important but definitely not one of those factors that I've ever seen make a direct impact on ranking. Some things, like the title tag, can literally result in a direct ranking increase. Other factors, like Schema, wouldn't necessarily result in an immediate ranking increase but combined with other hundreds of factors it could.

Google claims that Schema still isn't a ranking factor (Google May Add Structured Markup & Data To Ranking Algorithm) but I don't always listen to them.

In addition to my own experience (in the thousands of cases I've worked on our team has never found that adding Schema had a direct impact on ranking), I found it most interesting that Backlinko analyzed 1 million SERPs and also found "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)

Their sample size is quite a bit bigger than mine

 

[jvaquino]

I haven't seen anyone do lat and long on schema. I don't think it will have a negative effect if you will apply it to your site. It never hurts to give Google as much information as possible. Leave less for them to try and figure out.