In our last article, “Structured Data and Rich Snippets – A Primer”, we discussed structured data, how structured data results in Rich Results and the types of Rich Results shown on search engine results pages (SERPs) (on Google in particular). In this article, we are going to go one step further and discuss what you need to do to give your content the best chance at showing Rich Results, which starts with structured data.
Before we go any further, it is important to note that Google states, “Important: Google does not guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results, even if your page is marked up correctly” on their General Structured Data Guidelines page. Again, in their own words, “Using structured data enables a feature to be present, it does NOT guarantee that it will be present.”
Formatting Your Structured Data
For your website to be eligible for Rich Results, you must use a structured data format that is supported by either Google or Bing. As of this writing, Google states they support 3 different formats:
JSON-LD (Google recommended)
Bing states on their “Marking Up Your Site with Structured Data” page that they support the aforementioned formats as well, which brings us to:
Which Structured Data Format Should I Use?
We recommend using JSON-LD as this is the type of structured data Google recommends. Bing also supports JSON-LD, making it the obvious choice.
Using JSON-LD for Structured Data
So, you have decided to use JSON-LD to format your structured data, you are probably wondering where to start. Well, you can go right to the source, “JSON for Linking Data” and depending on your level of coding experience, maybe even jump right in. Not a coder? Don’t have time to learn JSON-LD? There are options.
I Do Not Want to Hand Code My Structured Data (JSON-LD)
There are numerous tools and plugins (depending on your Content Management System) that will simplify implementing structured data. In this section, we will give you some options (that we have personally used):
Google makes it easy to get started with their “Structured Data Markup Helper”. The Structured Data Markup Helper helps you mark up elements on your web page so that Google can understand the data on the page. The Structured Data Markup Helper currently supports the following data types:
Articles
Events
Movies
Restaurants
Book Reviews
Job Postings
Products
Software Applications
Datasets
Local Businesses
Question and Answer Page’s
TV Episodes
The Markup Generator over at TechnicalSEO is one of our favorites. It is very intuitive and easy to use. As of the writing, the tool supports the following structured data types, some of which are absent from Google’s Markup Helper:
Articles
Breadcrumbs
Events
FAQ Pages
How-tos
Job Postings
Local Businesses
Organizations
Persons
Products
Recipes
Videos
Websites
Use their structured data generator to create JSON-LD markups, including all of the required item properties and more.
- Plugins
If you are using WordPress, implementing Structured Data is as easy as installing a plugin and following the plugin’s steps. As the number of WordPress Structured Data Plugins continues to grow, we want to point you to some articles that break down the top options:
6 Powerful WordPress Schema Plugins: Display Rich Snippets Easily
Best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress: a comparison of 10+ Plugins
7 Free Plugins for Adding Structured Data to Your WordPress Website
Stay Tuned for Part 3: I Have Created My Structured Data, Now What?