October 04, 2021

Why Structured data for my website?


What is schema for eCommerce website

Websites that offer news, information about sports, music, entertainment, food and drink, and eCommerce have multiple pages and categories to showcase.

And, if Googlebot or other popular search engines won’t be able to understand the meaning of your page content then it would not show in rich results.


Below is a search example that shows Google rich results:


"How does a structured data search result look like?"

This is where “Structured data” becomes of help. It is created in a form of machine-readable format that is easy and quick for Googlebot to know what your page is all about.

Understanding the content of the page is the foremost step considered by search engines before indexing and presenting it in result pages.

But I submit my sitemaps in Google Search Console, then why do I need to add structured data for my eCommerce store?

 

What is Structured data markup for an eCommerce website owner?

You can submit sitemaps for your website pages in Google Search Console and get your pages crawled and indexed.

However, when it comes to selling multiple products online- an eCommerce structured data for your website will make it easier for the popular search engine to better understand the content of your products landing pages and improve their chances of being featured in Google rich results, instead of only being shown in Google search results with blue links.

A structured data markup language can include the product titles, descriptions, URL links, image links, price, color, availability, and recipe.

The more details the better you can help Googlebot know about your product page information and show them in Google rich results. 

For example, if you are a chef and have a website that provides recipe pages then, below is what a JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for linked data) structured data markup will look like:


Structured data JSON-LD code for cooking website
Source: Google Support


Watch this from “#AskGoogleWebmasters” video series now known as “#AskGooglebot” posted on Google Search Central to understanding whether you need to use the structured data exactly specified by Google Developers site or can use more properties from schema.org:



John Mueller, the search advocate at Google who is the host of the trending video series said, as far as your product pages use the correct structured data adhering to the structured data guidelines can be eligible to show up in Google rich search results.

 

What are the different types of formats for structured data supported by Google Search?


1- JSON-LD

This format is Google recommended and runs on JavaScript notations through a script tag pasted in the <head> or <body> of the HTML file. Click to know more about JSON-LD.

2- Microdata

Another popular structured data format that uses HTML tag attributes is mainly seen in the <body.> This structured data format can be used in the <head> too. Click to know more about Microdata.

3- RDFa

This is an HTML 5 extension that helps you markup data using HTML tag attributes including people, places, reviews, events, and recipes. This is mostly used in the <head> and <body> of HTML pages. Click to know more about RDFa extension.

 

How to create structured data for my eCommerce website?

 

A- Firstly, you’ll want to make sure to read the structured data guidelines, which include the content quality guidelines also known as Google Webmaster guidelines.

B- Then, you can access this guide by Schema.org. Here, you will find a variety of structured data vocabularies that is quickly understood by Google and other popular search engines including Microsoft Bing. Learn how to markup your content, use the schema vocabulary and adding of machine-understandable information. You can use the schemas with Microdata, JSON-LD, or even RDFa formats to add the markup to your HTML webpages.

What is Schema.org?

It is a collaborative online community to create, maintain and promote schemas or you can say pattern or behavior for your structured data.

C- Structured data codelab is helping eCommerce webmasters a step-by-step practical guide om adding structured data to your eCommerce web pages.

D- Once you understand the above, you can explore the search gallery to find your structured data type from the list of categories that best describes your website. It includes eCommerce organization, sports, jobs, entertainment, news, food and drink, education and science.

I have selected “eCommerce” and below are the features available to implement and increase chances of your brand page to show up in Google rich results:



How to add structure data for your product?

For example, upon clicking “Get Started” of the “Product” feature as shown in the image above you’ll get a brief overview on how to add structured data for product .

In addition, you get the JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa markup language code that you’ll use in the HTML of your product page as shown in the image below:



 
Tool to create a single product structured data

E- Lastly, you would like to perform a check with the rich results test tool offered by Google. You can enter a specific website page URL or the code as pointed in the image below:


Best tool to perform Google rich results test


"Where can I perform a rich result test for eCommerce website structured data?"


This will allow you to test which rich results types were found on the page and how they will be seen in Google search. In addition, get to know whether the structured data markup language has any error or suggestion for the same.

F- After the pages are properly set and indexed in search engines you can use Google Search Console to monitor rich results performance on your site.

 

Watch the video hosted by Daniel Waisberg, the Search Advocate at Google; to understand how to monitor rich results in Google Search Console:




How to submit structured data to the website Google Merchant Center?

 

A- Sign up for Google Merchant Center and set up your merchant center account to showcase your products in rich search results.

B- To add structured data to your website theme, please copy the HTML product tags from the schema for your eCommerce website that best describes your products and page them in-store page template.

C- To add structured data to Google Merchant Center you’ll need to first create a product data feed that will allow you to upload products in Google Merchant Center.

 

How can I upload my product feeds to Google Merchant Center?


 

Watch how to add a structured data markup to your website, and how to perform product data updates to your website and Google Merchant Center:



Ending note

With the upcoming holiday season around the corner, I am sure you understand how beneficial it can be to have an eCommerce structured data markup language on your site.

Other niche website categories including news, jobs, entertainment and even sports are following this best practice for improving important page visibility in Google and other search engine platforms with rich results.

 

---The End---


Source:

Google Support

Main Image Source: Canva

 

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