What is the optimum schema for a Website and how important is it really is for SEO?
-
Hey everyone,
As you all probably has seen Google has changed their structure testing tool and alongside that has also changed what is considered as valid and not valid.I have been struggling with this question for quite a while now where opinions are really split.
**1. How important is Schema for SEO? **
2. How far should you go Schema'ing your website pages?From the one hand i can see how it can be easier for a BOT to read a code that has proper "road signs" (our schemas markups), on the other hands, Google is already extremely clever is working out what is the header, sidebar or footer as well as review and or a blog posts (especially for those of us who use Wordpress.
Would love to know if someone has seen a "Like to Like" show case with schemas and/or have some factual information regarding what should or shouldn't be done when it comes ot Schema.
Dan.
-
So your footer links, top nav bar, are only visible in code? But can you see them on the page?
To elaborate on my answer, I feel that schema markups for links in the footer, sidebar and top nav are irrelevant and not worth exhausting the effort. What benefit does the markup have to the user? The markups should highlight the most important parts of your site for the benefit of the searcher, not the search engine. Therefore my answer is really that same, put yourself in the shoes of the searcher. Is there something in those links worth highlighting that could possibly increase your CTR? My guess is that there probably isn't. Without seeing your site, I couldn't really assume otherwise.
The benefit is not to the engine as these markups are for user experience alone. Highlighting the data won't help you rank better if it is irrelevant to the searcher.
-
Hi Monica,
Although i appricate your comment and although it was Staff Endorsed here on Moz i think it was a very general answer that doesn't touch the core of my question.and i will explain, whilst i agree with you 100% regarding the fact that one should add Schema markups to the things that are important on your site it didn't answer the dipper question of combining the front end and back end when it comes to Schema. In other words, by defining schema for sidebards, top menus, footer etc. (all of which which are only visible to search engines bots on a code level) are we helping our SEO efforts? is Google going to award us for taking the time and specifying schema throughout elements that are not your usual suspects (Review, Ratings, Products etc.)?
I hope i get my point/question across, as we both share the same principles it is not clear from your comment what level of technical code level schema should be implemented.
Dan.
-
I believe the Schema markups are better for user experience, which is why they are important to SEO. What is the point of having a completely optimized site and great content if you can't get anyone to click on your SERP? This is especially true for ECommerce stores. Those markups give the customers the first glimpse of a price and the quality of a product, and, can often drastically increase CTR.
You should add Schema markups to the things that are important on your site, prices, brands, reviews; the things that are more important to the searcher. What is good for the searcher is good for the search engine. Highlight the things that you have over your competition. Highlight the things you want to be recognized for, like promotions or guarantees. The benefit of the markups should be thought of as what is good for the searcher, not the bots.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
SEO - New URL structure
Hi, Currently we have the following url structure for all pages, regardless of the hierarchy: domain.co.uk/page, such as domain/blog name. Can you, please confirm the following: 1. What is the benefit of organising the pages as a hierarchy, i.e. domain/features/feature-name or domain/industries/industry-name or domain/blog/blog name etc. 2. This will create too many 301s - what is Google's tolerance of redirects? Is it worth for us changing the url structure or would you only recommend to add breadcrumbs? Many thanks Katarina
Technical SEO | | Katarina-Borovska1 -
Wordpress pagination and SEO
Hello Mozzers, We have incorporated Wordpress blog in our website. The blog has a fair share of what we believe is a valuable content both for the users and SEO. We have reached the point where our content is getting pushed out to pages 2, 3 and etc. 99% of the older content is still relevant and useful. However it does get less traffic from the users because it is not on the front page. I am dealing with it by showing "related posts" and get some traffic through that. I feel that the content that got pushed from the front page of the blog gets less love from search engines as well.The my permalink structure is /%postname%/ only, however when Wordpress adds page/1/ the SEO ranking appears to drop. Is it because Wordpress adds page/1/ to the address? What is a good way to optimize is? I have 15 posts showing on the front page should I increase it?
Technical SEO | | SirMax0 -
Global Product Tabs and SEO
I am looking at a site that has global or duplicated content in 4 tabs for things like shipping, quality etc on tabs on each product page. The content is very good for UX and helps conversions but poor for SEO. Each product page has unique and tagged photos, unique title and a unique description. Is there away to specifically tell search engines that individual parts of a page are duplicated for good reason? Linking to the content to a single page decreases conversion dramatically but having it on tabs could effect ranking and quality as it is duplicated. Can anyone offer any advice with this?
Technical SEO | | Ian_W0 -
Big Mess - Multiple Websites
I have a customer, a Psychologist, who put up +/-20 websites many years ago. He has 1 main site (with his name as the domain) with hundreds of pages of quality content. The other sites are all exact match domains - anxiety counseling, couples counseling, etc. Some are single page sites, others have a good amount of quality content. Many of the EMD sites were getting ranked on the first page, as was the main site. The money site was ranking on the first page for the best keywords All of the EMD pages linked back to the main site, many with site wide footer links. The main site did not link back. All of the sites are on the same IP address. These sites have been in place for years. I don't believe that he has a duplicate content problem. About 8 weeks ago, the rankings for the main site crashed, moving 10 or more SERP pages deep. The EMD sites are still ranking. He has not gotten any nasty-grams from Google in Webmaster Tools. The Psychologist relies exclusively on organic for his business, and it has taken a significant hit. 1. Has anyone else seen this happen? 2. Is it safe to assume that Google finally nailed him for using a linking scheme? 3. How can we unwind this? The other sites are still generating business, and if those go away, he is really screwed. 4. Will taking down all of the links from the other sites be enough? Would moving the money site to another hosting company on a different IP make a difference? Ideas? I think the white hat answer would be to take down the EMD sites, and 301 redirect to the main site. The problem is that the loss of business from this process could be catastrophic.
Technical SEO | | CsmBill0 -
Is this normal on my website speed tool
Hi, i would like to know if this is normal as i have never come across it before. i have just checked my speed which needs a lot of improving. I use joomla 3.0 and recently had a developer upgrade it from 1.5, but now i am seeing under the speed test my website showing twice which looks like it is causing a time delay. the tool is http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/dTjwDM/www.in2town.co.uk can someone please look and let me know if this is normal. my site www.in2town.co.uk is coming up twice which seems to be slowing the site down and i have checked this tool with other sites and they are fine many thanks
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Posting on Forums for SEO benefit
Hi Is it beneficial to participate on forums in our market place to help become an authority in Googles eyes? I assume even if we don't get links it still useful in terms of co-citation... Thanks
Technical SEO | | jj34340 -
Breadcrumbs how important are they
Hi, i am working on a joomla template site and i am just wondering how important the breadcrumbs are. I have one installed at the moment but what i have noticed is, what is showing on the main menu is showing on the breadcrumbs so i am not sure if i really need the breadcrumbs module. any help and advice would be great
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Advertising and negative impact on SEO
On one of my sites, I've been trying to get the word out by contacting blogs and asking them to share my site with their readers. This has resulted in some free publicity for my site, as well as quite a few paid reviews/sponsored posts. Note, however, that I've never paid for links, just reviews of my site... When I started this about 2 months ago, my site was a PR3 and getting fairly lowsy organic search traffic (i.e. 30-40 visits a day from Google). Then a few days ago, my PR dropped to 1. I didn't worry too much though, because my organic traffic was still around 30-40 visits a day. Now today, I checked and I only had 1 visitor the entire day from Google. Obviously I've been penalized. My most important question is, what can I do? Do I have an recourse, or do I need to just shut the domain down and move elsewhere? Second, wtf is Google penalizing this? I understand the argument against paid links, but should I not be allowed to advertise my site? Apparently I can buy links all day long through Google and they'll happily take my money, but the minute I pay some poor blogger to write an article about my site to their audience, I get penalized? Please help, I can't believe I just destroyed one of my sites like this!
Technical SEO | | dustin9990