“Structured Data Markup” sounds complicated, but in simplest terms it’s a way to make your website content understood by Google (and other search engines).
Google uses this data to index your content better, present it more prominently in search results and even have it show within voice answers and the knowledge graph, all of which means more visibility for your business online.
Marking up your data accurately makes your content eligible for two different Google features. The first of these is offering better presentation in Search Results through Rich Snippets.
Above is an example of a search result with a Rich Snippet included. You can see the review stars, an aggregate rating and a vote count, all incredibly useful extra information for anyone searching.
It should be noted that Rich Snippets are useful on pages where you need specific details on a product, service, event, person, recipe etc. – so you should try and avoid using Rich Snippets on your home page. For this page you’ll want to use the following feature.
The second feature is The Knowledge Graph. This is an information table that shows in the top right of Google searches. This graph features authoritative data related to your search. For a business this can include a website link, service/product details, opening hours, reviews, photos and whole lot more.
The key here for business owners is the Knowledge Graph for organisations. If you mark your data correctly, Google will show a knowledge graph when your business is searched for.
You can see above an example of a Knowledge Graph – in this instance it’s for the search for ‘Google’ itself, although if you mark your data correctly, the same should show for your business.
We believe the knowledge graph and data markup play a big part in SEO, they act like a window for communicating with Google and offer an excellent opportunity to improve the online visibility of your business.
It is essential that everything is set up correctly; we have considerable expertise and would love the chance to help. To find out more visit www.total-seo.co.uk and request a free website review.
