Structured data is not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. I’m not saying it should only be done by the experts, but because you are getting into the real guts of your website when implementing structured data, you should probably know how to fix any mistakes if (or more appropriately, when) they happen. Implementing this specific code takes a lot of time and patience so user beware!
In basic terms, structured data is where the search engines are going in the future of online marketing. It allows the search engines to not only crawl your site, but it lets them to better understand the content on your site.
To you and I, when we read the text or see a picture, we know what it is. But because the world wide web is so massive with so many elements, the information on a website may not be as clear. That’s exactly how structured data helps with your SERP’s. This markup explains in detail what it is reading and seeing.
Here is an example of some structured data that you can implement into the header of your site:
<script type=”application/ld+json”>
{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “LocalBusiness”,
“address”: {
“@type”: “PostalAddress”,
“name”: “Amazing Pool Company”,
streetAddress”: “123 Main Street”,
“addressLocality”: “New York”,
“addressRegion”: “NY”,
“addressCountry”: “US”,
“postalCode”: “10001”
},
“email”: [
],
“description”: “If you need an award-winning pool company contact our professional crew”,
“legalName”: “Amazing Pool Company”,
“foundingDate”: “1980”,
“openingHours”: [
“Mo-Fr 9:00-17:00”,
“Sa-Su Closed”
],
“telephone”: “(555) 555-5555”,
“url”: “http://www.amazingpoolcompany.com”,
“sameAs” : [ “https://www.facebook.com/amazingpoolcompany”,
“https://plus.google.com/+amazingpoolcompany”,
“https://twitter.com/Bamazingpoolcompany”
],
“logo” : “www.amazingpoolcompany.com/images/logo.png”,
“contactPoint” : [
{
“@type” : “ContactPoint”,
“telephone” : “+1-555-555-5555”,
“contactType” : “customer service”
}
]
}
</script>
This amazing script is what tells Google what the whole purpose of the site is (granted there is more to the equation, but this is just one step on the way to online success).
So by inserting this script, Google knows that the above example is about a Pool Company in New York City that has been providing services in the area since 1980 and there are several linked social media profiles etc etc.. Pretty cool stuff.
You are also able to test your websites structured data here: https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/ and see how your site is doing.
If you would like to learn more about some other types of structured data that you can implement on your website, contact us today or stay tuned for more blog posts.