Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of articles about structured data and schema markup, and why it’s important for SEO. In a world where search marketing is more complex than ever (and this is particularly true for eCommerce), structured data can help to simplify, give context to and, well, structure your content in the eyes of the search engines.
eCommerce and eCommerce SEO are complex and ever-changing, but one area of SEO where you can potentially really steal a march on your competitors is with structured data. If implemented correctly, structured data can help your website work harder for you, stand out from the crowd and deliver an overall improved experience for your customers.
It’s a big topic, so this is just part 1, and here we’ll cover what structured data is, what it means for eCommerce, and offer some best practices for using it. In part 2, we’ll show you the best types of structured data to focus on for eCommerce, so you don’t get overwhelmed by all the noise. We’ll also show you where and how to add structured data to your eCommerce site, as well as how to test it. Stay tuned!
On to the whats and the whys…
What Is Structured Data?
Structured data is essentially a standardised method of presenting information about your webpages and the various elements on them, and of classifying your content. It consists of various attributes that follow a pre-defined format, which allows search engines to make sense of the content and structure of your website and its pages.
This opens up the ability for the search engines to display your content in relevant, and often visually-appealing, ways in the search results, increasing your real estate and also, potentially, your clickthrough rate.
The structured data vocabulary used by Google and the other big search engines is called Schema.org. They make all of the code public on their website, so it’s a case of finding the markup you need and then adapting it to your website. There are 3 main forms of structured data markup:
- JSON-LD
- RDFa
- Microdata
In these guides, we’ll mainly refer to JSON-LD, as this is the format that is preferred by Google, and it’s also the easiest to use. You can find more info about the various formats in Google’s developer documentation on the subject.
What Is Structured Data for eCommerce?
Structured data for eCommerce is simply code that can be used to mark up the various elements and pieces of information that are found on eCommerce sites’ product pages, category pages, homepages and more. As with other businesses, this includes things such as business name, contact details, images and video, but also product information, stock info, reviews, how-tos, pricing and offers, delivery info and payment methods.
All of these elements, if marked up correctly, can appear in search results, really enhancing the appearance of your site when compared to competitors, and building trust with potential customers. After all, which of these would you be more likely to click on if you saw it on Google?
The main types of structured data you’ll come across in regard to eCommerce sites include:
- Organisation schema markup – information about your company, such as name, contact information and logo
- Product schema markup – information relating to products, e.g. price, availability, size etc.
- Breadcrumb schema markup – information that demonstrates the hierarchy or categories on your site
- Review schema markup – information on customer reviews, such as star ratings, dates and authors
Depending on your site, you may also need to add things like recipe schema, video schema, article schema or local business schema. We’ll go into a bit more detail on these in part 2.
How Can Structured Data Benefit eCommerce Sites?
As we’ve seen above, adding structured data can make your site look better in search engine results — assuming, of course, that the information on your site is correct and that your reviews are good! And if your website looks good in the search results, the chances are you’ll get more people clicking through to it. It can also help to create connections between various pieces of information (known as “entities”), further helping search engines to understand your brand and products.
Let’s look in detail at some of the main benefits of adding relevant structured data to your eCommerce website:
- Rich snippets – Google supports various types of structured data designed to appear for different aspects of search. These are called rich snippets or rich results, and can include review and product info, as in the above example, but also videos, articles, carousels, images, breadcrumbs and even whether you’re a local business. The more you can appear for, the better and more prominent (not to mention trustworthy!) your search results will look.
You can test if your structured data supports rich results using Google’s Rich Results Tester.
Rich snippets encompass all the following, but we’ll talk a bit about them anyway.
- Improved visibility – These enhanced search results improve your business’s visibility within the search results. Marking up videos and images can also help you get found in video and image searches, giving you more bites at the cherry as far as clickthroughs go. Not to mention, your listings will stand out more if they feature pricing info, star ratings, stock levels etc.
- Improved SEO – structured data is not a ranking factor, BUT it helps search engines understand your content better, thereby increasing the chances that it will rank, and rank higher, for relevant queries.
- Better user experience – giving users more helpful, personalised and informative results for different types of searches can only improve their experience.
- Increased trust – by combining structured data with relevant and up-to-date information about your business and your products, you can show transparency and build trust with your customers. Include as much information about your products as possible, such as descriptions, features, materials, sizing, reviews, FAQs, etc. and be sure to mark it all up.
Google can also use this info to build its Knowledge Graph about your business (i.e. everything it knows about you!), so it’s important to make sure its accurate.
- Increased CTR – Rich results can improve clickthrough rates, due to the increased levels of trust they create.
- Voice search and PPC – as we’ve discussed, structured data provides context to search engines. This helps voice assistants deliver the right information to users. It’s also helpful for PPC as it ensures that the right data and attributes are linked to the products in your shopping feed, thereby giving a boost to your campaigns.
However, one thing to note here is that Google will not always take structured data into account and show search results accordingly. Even if everything is in place, Google may choose to ignore it depending on the search query, search intent and whether it considers a rich result would be helpful.
Structured Data Resources
If you want to find out more about structured data implementation, a good place to start is Google’s guidelines on the subject, as well as their rich results gallery, both of which provide excellent info.
Here are some of our favourite structured data resources:
What Are Rich Snippets? from Brian Dean, Backlinko
Include structured data relevant to ecommerce from Google Search Central
Structured data markup that Google Search supports from Google Search Central
Introduction to Product structured data from Google Search Central
A Guide To Schema Markup & Structured Data SEO Opportunities By Site Type from Tony Edward, Search Engine Journal
8 Must-Have Ecommerce Rich Snippets To Stand Out In Search from Emily Amor, Search Engine Journal
SEO For Product Pages from Rebekah Conway, Boom (includes advice on structured data)\
Structured Data for eCommerce Best Practices
It can be easy to get bogged down in the technical aspects of structured data, so here are some best practices for implementing it, which will hopefully make it a little easier to digest.
- Use schema.org – it’s widely recognised and supported by all major search engines
- And use either JSON-LD (preferred), microdata or RDFa, but pick one and stick to it.
- Add as much info as possible but don’t go overboard and mark up everything. Only mark up what is needed.
- Be sure to use the correct structured data types for each page.
- Provide up to date, accurate and original information and content
- Use reviews/ratings markups where appropriate
- Nest structured data where possible
- Regularly monitor errors – you can use Google Search Console for this, or a tool such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb
- Work with an expert – an experienced eCommerce SEO agency can advise you on what structured data you should implement and offer solutions for any errors with existing structured data.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a whole load of reasons why you should be making the most of structured data for your eCommerce website. From souped-up search results to getting found for images and video searches, structured data can make your website truly shine.
In part 2, we’ll get practical and talk about what structured data you need to include, where you should put it, how you can add it to your site, and how you can test it’s working.
Got questions, or just find the whole structured data thing terrifying? If only you could find an SEO agency that specialises in eCommerce…
Our lovely and, dare I say, incredibly talented SEO specialists will be happy to use our considerable experience to recommend structured data implementations for your website, and liaise with developers (either your own or on our side) to get it done. Get in touch with us today!
