61% of B2B marketers stated that SEO and organic traffic generate more leads than any other marketing initiative. That's a huge number, and it just goes to show that SEO should be a key focus for any business that wants to see real results from its online presence.
But what happens when your SEO efforts aren't paying off? And how can you turn things around to start driving more organic traffic to your website? One way to do this is by using Schema markup.
Schema markup is code (semantic vocabulary) that you can add to your website to help search engines better understand your content.
Schema markup is often used to power rich snippets, which are search results that include additional information beyond the standard title and description. Rich snippets often have higher click-through rates than 'regular' search results, which means more traffic to your site.
Say you're a multichannel contact center provider. You want to target the keyword "call center services." But there are a lot of other businesses also trying to rank for that same keyword. You can use schema markup to help your website stand out in the search results. Some examples of schema markup you can use for a call center website include your business name, services offered, contact information, or location.
W3Techs found that two-thirds of all websites use some form of structured data. So, it's clear that schema markup is an important aspect of SEO that can no longer be ignored.
JSON-LD: JSON-LD is the recommended schema markup type by Google. It's a script that can be added anywhere on your website, and it doesn't require any changes to your site's code.
RDFa: RDFa is another type of schema markup that can be added to HTML5 code. It's similar to JSON-LD in that it doesn't require any changes to your site's code, but it can be a bit more difficult to implement.
Microdata: Microdata is a type of schema markup that must be added to your website's HTML code. This can be a bit more difficult to do if you're not comfortable working with code, but it can be a great option if you want more control over how your rich snippets appear in the search results.
There are a few key benefits of using schema markup on your website:
Schema markup can help your website appear in rich results, which are search results that include additional information beyond the standard title and description. For example, if you sell automated mobile app testing services, you could use schema markup to display pricing information or product reviews in the search results.
Schema markup can help your website stand out in the search results, which can lead to more clicks and traffic. For example, if you use schema markup to display your business name and contact information in the search results, potential customers will be able to quickly and easily find your website.
Suppose you're a cybersecurity consultant and you use schema markup to display your company's phone number in the search results. When potential customers see your phone number, they'll be able to quickly and easily contact you to discuss their needs.
Schema markup can help search engines better understand the content on your website. This is especially important for websites with a lot of content, such as news articles or product pages. By using schema markup, you can help search engines index your content more accurately, which can lead to better search results.
Let's say you work for a telecommunications company and you have a website with blogs about phone dropping calls. You could use schema markup to specify that your articles are about this topic, which would help search engines index your content more accurately. As a result, your articles would be more likely to appear in the search results.
Schema markup can help your website appear in voice search results. This is because schema markup is often used to power rich snippets, which are search results that include additional information beyond the standard title and description. 41% of adults use voice search at least once per day, so it's important to use Schema markup to help your website appear in voice search results.
Let's say you're a website that provides business phones. If a potential customer used voice search to ask, "What are the best Grasshopper phone alternatives?" your website could appear in the search results if you use schema markup to power a rich snippet that includes information about your competitors.
Once you've found the right schema type, you need to add the schema markup to your website. The best way to do this is to use a Schema Markup Generator.
A Schema Markup Generator is a tool that helps you create the schema markup for your website. You simply enter the information about your website, such as the website name, URL, Schema type and so on. The Schema Markup Generator will then generate the code for you.
Once you have the code, you need to add it to your website. The best way to do this is to add it to the header of your website. Most Schema Markup Generators will provide instructions on how to do this.
If you're not sure how to add the code to your website, you can always contact a web developer or SEO agency, and they'll be able to help you out.
Once you've added the schema markup to your website, it's important to test it to make sure it's working properly. The best way to do this is to use a Schema Markup Validator.
A Schema Markup Validator is a tool that helps you test your schema markup. Simply enter the URL of your website, and the Schema Markup Validator will check the code for errors. So if you're a relationship marketing agency with a job posting schema, you could use a Schema Markup Validator to test how your job postings appear in the search results and make sure they're accurate. If you find any errors, you need to fix them as soon as possible. Schema markup is a powerful tool, but it's useless if it's not working properly.
Once you've added schema markup to your website, it's important to monitor your results. The best way to do this is to use Google Search Console.
Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you track your website's performance in the search results. Simply enter your website's URL, and Google Search Console will show you how your website is performing.
Say you're a selling proposal and contract software and you've added schema markup to your website. You can use Google Search Console to track how many people are clicking on your website in the search results and whether or not they're finding what they're looking for. Or, you could use Google Search Console to track how your website's ranking for important keywords has changed since you added schema markup.
If you see a significant increase in your website's organic traffic, it's likely that your schema markup is working properly. If you don't see a considerable increase, it's possible that your schema markup is not working and you need to fix it.
So there you have it. A complete guide to Schema Markup SEO from what it is, to how you can use it to increase your organic traffic.
When used properly, schema markup can be a powerful tool that can help you improve your website's performance in search results. So if you don’t have a schema markup SEO strategy, now is the time to start.
Good luck and happy markup!
About the author: Jessica Day is the Senior Director for Marketing Strategy at Dialpad, a modern hosted VoIP system platform that takes every kind of conversation to the next level - turning conversations into opportunities. Jessica is an expert in collaborating with multifunctional teams to execute and optimize marketing efforts, for both company and client campaigns.