Semalt Explains What Structured Data Is And How It Is Important To SEO



The use of structured data has been on the rise in recent years. However, many sites still choose not to use structured data. There is a saying in SEO that goes, "the earlier the better." If you're reading this, chances are that you're considering Structured Data in your SEO strategy. At the end of this article, you should understand Structured Data and its importance to a site. 

A study by SEMrush shows that over 50% of websites still do not use Structured Data. If you're looking for a way to get ahead of your competition, this might just be it. It is no longer "nice to have"; it has become critical for dominance on the SERP. 

In a nutshell, Structured Data has made benefits such as Better CTRs, faster indexing, greater dominance on SERP, and dominating voice search. Since it teaches Google to understand your site better and faster, you have a better chance universally. 

The more crawling bots communicate with your website, the better your search engines understand.

What is Structured Data?

Structured data in SEO is a standard format some websites use to highlight information about a page. Search engine bots read structured data as it helps them understand the webpage better. 

Any website that hopes to rank high on SERP must understand the value of being on the same page as search engine bots. When Google, Bing, or any other search engine interprets your website the wrong way, it becomes difficult to reach the right audience. 

When a search engine interprets a webpage incorrectly, it ranks it for the wrong queries and to the wrong audience, which are all things we do not want happening. 

With structured data, you help search engine bots understand exactly what goes on in that web page. Structured data may also be used in search engines, in rich snippets, and it can also be used to improve user experience. 

What Are The Uses Of Structured Data

Structured data can be created for almost every type of content. Luckily for you, other big brands have already tested the water with their dev time and resources. We studied the results of these experiments and noticed that structured data truly does contribute to your business value. For starters, it generates conversions and improves inbound traffic. 

By structuring your webpage data with scema.org, you open up your web page to such great benefits as reusing the information to improve your analytics or perform better in onsite search. It also adds benefits like improved voice recognition by informing chatbots. 

By structuring your structured data correctly, you define the content on that page, which improves your chances of ranking for relevant queries. 

The Impact 

We implemented structured data for one of our clients and documented its outcome. 
  • 200% net growth in rich organic traffic results
  • 92% growth in impressions and 91% growth in CTR
  • 50% growth in inbound traffic and 32% growth in clicks for magazines
While these results are amazing, you must be wondering if this is solely a result of implementing structured data. There are many ways to improve a website's organic performance, which include building new content and getting new links. However, this result was sole because we added structured data to the website. To be sure, we turned it off and noticed, as a result, it started declining. 

A common misconception is that structured data is used only to get rich snippets from google. Our experiment proves that structured data brings a lot more to the table in terms of traffic quality and quantity. 

Google has also published some studies that show the large benefits brands enjoyed after using structured data. 

Why Many Brands Don't Use Schema

Using Schema has its disadvantages; here are some common reasons why brands choose not to use Schema. 
  • Some brands lack the resources they need to set up and manage structured data on their own.
  • Sometimes, the in-house SEO team lacks technical knowledge and does not know how to mark items up. Schema can be quite technical, and one error in the markup code can ruin the whole thing.
  • It may not be supported by their CMS. 
  • They neither see nor understand the benefits of Schema. Even with Google providing some case studies, some websites still refuse to believe that the ROI on Schema is worth it. 
  • They are stuck in the past.

The Benefits of Using Schema

Structured data has a lot to offer, especially for eCommerce sites. Here are some of its most important benefits. 

Content gets indexed faster

With over 3.23 billion web pages, Google lacks the resources to find, read and understand them all. And Google isn't exactly interested in knowing all these web pages. Crawling is expensive, and no search engine wants to spend resources on irrelevant pages. These search engines avoid duplicated and low-quality content, so they only crawl web pages that show promise. 

Having structured data shows search engines that you want them to crawl your content which means it is of high quality, and search engine users will find the content valuable. 

Higher CTR

Since search engine bots understand your website better, you stand a higher chance of appearing in relevant SERPs. Schema is a great way to improve your CTR and improve your listing, especially if you already have great reviews. 

Control your information

Having structured data gives your brand the ability to control how your information is defined. Schema saves you time and bandwidth. You give Google the necessary information to understand your content. Structured data also answers search queries with a more factual and personalized result. 

Conclusion 

Schema is no longer just an added advantage; it is insectary to help Google understand your content better if you need your website to be visible within SERPs and other search features. 

Semalt can help you! Interested in SEO? Check out our other articles on the Semalt blog.