It has been widely recognized that structured data is helpful when it comes down to Google’s understanding of your content. If you are desirous of making your site visible within search features, you cannot undermine its importance. Now the big question is, should all brands give preference to the use of structured data? Is it worth it?
An honest answer to this question is a resounding yes.
Before delving into the details, it is necessary to clear up a misconception stating that structured data is only an SEO strategy. Honestly, structured data and SEO is a foundation for machines to help a better understanding of your content.
Similar to the client-vendor relationship
Just like a client-vendor relationship, the more information you have in your disposition related to the client’s SEO issues, the better it is to address them. Since you know the problem you are dealing with, it will help you to formulate an appropriate strategy. It is highly desirable by a brand that machines like Google, Alexa, and Siri read and understand their content effectively and efficiently.
When you use a schema markup, it renders the ability to take full control of how the information is defined that in turn puts them in control of the machine’s brand understanding.
The different uses of structured data
Structured data is not a new concept. It has been around for years. A few years ago, its use was limited. However, for now, you can find its presence in just about anything starting from recipes, jobs, and restaurants. The main thing is that the use of structured data is on the rise, and structured data accounts for one-third of the total data crawled by Google.
It is because structured data paid rich dividends to big brand names in the form of improved traffic and generating conversions. Structuring your data renders great search result benefits like the reuse of the information for enhancing analytics or onsite research. It also rendered the benefits of voice search when it comes to informing Chatbots.
Structured data will help you content definition such that it optimizes the chances of a machine interpreting it in the right way. Brands are now relying on a schema for the determination of local business intent.
The Impact
In a recent study, structured data was used for a luxury hospital to examine the impact. In this study, the local listing schema was implemented and breadcrumb on the homepage. It resulted in the improvement of CTR by 2.7 percent in Q1 to 2.8 percent in Q2. It was a short test, and it was expected to witness around 5 to 10 percent increase in click-through rates over the next nine months. Besides, it also enhanced clicks by 43 percent, and impressions were up by almost one percent, and the average position also increased by 12 percent. It has to be kept in mind that during this study, the researchers did not indulge in any kind of organic performance like building new content or getting new links. The result was derived solely by implementing structured data. Structured data was only used that yielded desirable results from Google. The quality of traffic also improved a lot.
The Benefits of using Schema
There are several benefits when it comes to the use of Schema, more for eCommerce brands. Here we present some of the benefits.
Higher CTR
When you have a rich snippet, it shows up on your products in the SERP, and it is a great way for optimizing click-through rates drawing more attention in your listings more so if you have impressive product reviews.
More Conversions
Conversion rates take an upward turn when you provide rich snippets because if more people are viewing your listing and if the listings are positive, the likelihood that they will buy increases.
Since the launch of Google jobs, companies have been implementing structured job data so that the job postings get more exposure resulting in higher conversion for relevant queries.
Featured Snippets
It is considered as the holy grail of SEO. It will make your site appear at the top of the SERP before the organic listings. Although having structured data is not a necessity, it will indeed be helpful to earn a snippet. It will bring about an improvement in your click-through rates and drive more traffic.
Voice search results are also derived from featured snippets, which imply that you could well be the only result of a voice query as Google uses those results for verbal answers.
Structured Data Tips
While using structured data, make sure that you are not becoming spammy. Only use structured data, which is relevant to your content. If you do not abide by the rules laid down by Google, you may well receive spammy structured that is counted as spam on Google’s data manual action. As a result, SERPs will not display structured data. You have to make sure to clean up your site and lift the manual action.