What is "structured data" and why should you use it?

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mdsojolh634
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What is "structured data" and why should you use it?

Post by mdsojolh634 »

This is a translation of an article by Nate Harris for the Ahrefs blog. You can find out more about the author on his Facebook page .

The information is useful for webmasters and advanced SEO specialists. However, beginners can also appreciate the importance of structured data in modern SEO.

You will learn about

Features of using Schema.org,
the intricacies of JSON-LD,
interesting features in Google Search Console (old-fashioned - Google Webmaster),
myths of structured markup.
Search engines have made it clear that good snippets will taiyuan telephone number data play a vital role in the future of search.

We know that Google adds a new block to the Google Search Gallery every couple of months .

Google understands the content of the site very well. When it comes to the nuances of articles and the specifics of each page, the search engine robot needs help. That is why structured data will help you rank well.

Structured data is a general term that refers to any organized data in a specific format.

This is not an SEO term. Relational databases, the fundamental core of all computing, rely on structured data. SQL, the Structured Query Language, manages ordered data.

When a website creator wants to present a page as a user profile, an event page, or a job listing, certain markings need to be placed in the code.

The more pages on your site that the search robot will perceive as XML or JSON objects, the better your content will rank in the search results.
Micro-markup SCHEMA.ORG
The de facto main language for describing structured data on the Internet is schema.org. For example, to represent an air flight, schema.org contains rules for describing the type of aircraft, the gate number, and the menu.

Micro-markup SCHEMA.ORG

The project was founded in collaboration between Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex. It remains open source and technically editable by anyone. However, like any W3C project, the process of making changes is not easy. If you want to add a new type of structured data, put up with the technical and bureaucratic delays. In the end, you will get a new type of markup included in the Schema.org library.

4 options for structuring data
JSON-LD is one of the new structured data formats that Google regularly recommends. Instead of tagging each HTML element, JSON-LD is a large block of information code that tells Googlebot: “Aircraft type, departure time, menu, etc.”
Another good thing about JSON-LD is that there is no need to place any visual content elements on the page that contain information.

RDFa+GoodRelation is another syntactic extension of HTML. RDFa is different from JSON in its essence. Instead of putting structured data in one block, the HTML extension is scattered throughout the document and structures your data on the fly.
This syntax can be thought of as another attribute. For example, as a class. This format can be useful for marking dynamic elements (reviews). In such cases, it is faster and more convenient than using JSON.

Microdata is a language extension in HTML5 format. It is rarely used.
Microformat aka μF - a microformat most commonly found in the hAtom/hentry form.
Google Search Console Data Labeling
For sites that don't have a lot of elements to tag, Google offers a useful tool in GSC that allows site owners to quickly apply structured data. However, here are some reasons not to use Data Highlighter

Your data label markup will be broken if anything changes in the formatting of your pages.
The marking is only available to the Google search robot.
How Structured Data Helps SEO
Extended snippets (so-called Rich Snippets ) are the most desirable for all webmasters, as they increase CTR. For example, displaying product ratings directly in the snippet of a page for an online store.

Rich snippets

Image

Knowledge graph - a block about a brand or personality, for example:
block about brand or personality

AMP, Google News, etc. - In order to be listed in Google News or be labeled as AMP, a site must have many different types of microdata, such as events .
the site should have many different types of micro-markup

Indexing and ranking content: Search engines claim that they understand the context and meaning of a page's content better if you use microdata, even if there are no obvious results.
Other search engines: Each search engine handles structured data differently. Yandex has fields required for successful processing that Google does not require. Baidu's first page results rely heavily on structured data.
Myths of ranking factors
Microdata is not a ranking factor.
In the past, we saw a trick from Google that took into account microdata. Google understood branded queries in the search results. For example, if you own a pizzeria called Tim's Pizzeria in Brooklyn and someone types in the query "tims pizzeria brooklyn", then your site will appear in the first place in the search results, even without a link profile.
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