The Incredible Search Benefits of Schema

[Linda Buquet]

If you aren't already sold on Schema, well maybe you should be.

If you need a little motivation to get on the bandwagon, this post may help.

<a href="http://www.webpresence.tv/uk-blog/incredible-search-benefits-schema/">The Incredible Search Benefits of Schema | Webpresence Inbound Marketing Blog</a>

Adding Schema rich snippets to your website is a fantastic way to generate traffic and increase your click-through rates from a search engine, but very few sites use them.

Why, though, when the benefits are potentially so staggering?

The Searchmetric stats appear to back that up ? sites with Schema mark-ups rank on average four positions higher than without...

 

[Michael S. Doran]

So I have been making it standard to use Schema for the NAP for a while now. I have been thinking it would be good to learn how to use it for testimonials, but I haven't done it yet.

What other uses make good sense for local business?

 

[MarkW]

The list of rich snippets that webmasters can use is ever-expanding, but it's nice to have additional elements that can be optimized, and it's not a type of optimization that is as challenging as some of the other things that can be done so it's an easy go-to for agencies.

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

Michael:

Check out this article. It provides a good overview of Schema and when you can use it for local SEO. For example, one idea is events!

How to Use Schema Markup for Local SEO | Search Engine Journal

Travis

So I have been making it standard to use Schema for the NAP for a while now. I have been thinking it would be good to learn how to use it for testimonials, but I haven't done it yet.

What other uses make good sense for local business?

 

[djbaxter]

Bing likes it too....

Mark It Up
by Duane Forrester, Bing Webmaster Blog
May 15, 2014

For almost 3 years now Schema.org has been up and running, offering guidance on marking up your content. To those new to the concept, it’s a way to identify content in specific ways and with specific associations.


Marking up your content using microdata is something done inside the code of the page, so you need to be familiar with working in that environment. It’s not difficult to implement, but you will need access to the page code to insert the actual tags.

It’s worth completing this work to help the engines understand your content more clearly. It’s like a sign post stating “this content describes this (movie, person, place, video, etc.)”. And when your content is marked up, we can use that data to make richer search experiences. And while this might sound like a win for us, it’s also a big win for you. And to clarify a point often misunderstood, marking up your content does not itself lead directly to higher rankings. Site A won’t outrank Site B simply because Site A uses Schema or any other markup language.

Read more...

 

[MichaelJ]

I've never see it clearly defined just where in the HTML code the markup code is supposed to go. So @djbaxter your Bing Webmaster Blog post reference seems to indicate that the markup should start before or around the h1 tag. Is that right or what is best practice for placement of the schema code?

To begin, identify the section of the page that is "about" the movie Avatar. To do this, add the itemscope element to the HTML tag that encloses information about the item, like this:
itemscope>
Avatar

Director: James Cameron (born August 16, 1954)
Science fiction
Trailer

By adding itemscope, you are specifying that the HTML contained in the ...
block is about a particular item.

 

[djbaxter]

I'm just trying to learn about schema and how to implement it myself, Michael. I hope someone with more experience and knowledge can answer your questions.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I've never see it clearly defined just where in the HTML code the markup code is supposed to go. So @djbaxter your Bing Webmaster Blog post reference seems to indicate that the markup should start before or around the h1 tag. Is that right or what is best practice for placement of the schema code?

I've never seen shema placed around the h1 and that does not even really make sense to me.

The markup is wherever the content you are marking up is, on the page. Because the content shows on the page, so needs to be wherever it looks right. Then the schema is wrapped right around the content.

For example a review could be marked up and that review paragraph you may want at the top, bottom or in sidebar. Wherever that content is, the schema markup is wrapped around that content.

In my Local SEO template, 2 of the places I use schema: NAP in the footer and NAP at the top of the contact us page.

So again, depends on where the content is, what type of content and what type of schema. And there can be multiple schema markups on the page.

I'm not the schema expert around here. David Deering is one of our members that's really strong with it.
And we have tons of helpful posts here about it too.