The overwhelming majority of web owners use HTML tags on their pages to tell browsers how to display whatever information is included in those tags. However, an HTML tag has no way of telling browsers precisely what the text within the tags means. As a result, search engines have a hard time showing users relevant content. This is where schema markup comes into play, which offers webmasters the chance to make their site stand out from their SEO competitors.
So how important is schema markup in SEO? Below are some handy details worth knowing about the all-mighty schema markup and its significance to your SEO efforts.
What Exactly is Schema?
In a nutshell, it’s a small piece of code that shows search engines what a paragraph (or specific page) is all about. This code string is added to a site’s HTML and enhances the artificial intelligence of the big three search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Therefore, schema markup actually makes search engines smarter. It provides them with data in a very structured fashion so they know which page falls under which category.
In other words, Schema categorizes items in a website so that search engines no longer have to rely on their semantic intelligence and guess what the information provided is all about and whether it is relevant to user searches. Schema feeds them with particular details about the hows, whens, wheres, and what’s – the facts and particulars search engines prefer to display to search engine users.
How Schema affects your SEO?
First of all, it helps boost a site’s rankings in search result pages by making the website more user-friendly. This is accomplished by adding a snippet to your site’s search entry (or your page’s search entry) that displays useful details to the search engine browser. This results in more clicks to your website. That aside, here is some food for thought when wondering about the benefits tied to using schema markup. You get:
More relevancy to search engine results
Schema helps search engines contextualize queries. Sites and pages are matched more accurately with users’ needs, which also lowers your site’s bounce rate.
Improved visibility
Your snippets-rich website appears more prominently in search engine results pages (SERPs), which improves your click-through rate and leads to better visibility. Add to that the fact that schema markup contributes to better user experiences by making your site more user-friendly and you begin to realize how it can boost your organic click-through rate.
Improved website SEO
Although not a ranking factor per se, schema markup is one of the most effective SEO practices to boost a site’s rankings on SERPs by up to four positions. Besides driving higher click-through rates by enhancing your rich snippets, it can help make your site more indexable as it gives search engines the data they need to understand your web page content.
Conclusion
All in all, for those wanting to drive more relevant traffic to their site and make it stand out from their competition, using schema markup is a great way to accomplish that. Keep in mind that you cannot expect overnight success when using schema markup or any SEO tool. Experts advise giving it at least two months before you decide whether you want to stop or continue using it, or if any adjustments are needed.
