How do you get your Google results to look ‘stronger’? You use schema markup.
Also known as structured data, schema markup is data in the form of standardised code that you add to your website to help search engines give users more enhanced information than they’d get without it.
This extra info is known as rich results (sometimes informally called rich snippets).
Search engines are pretty clever when it comes to reading text. But not being human, they don’t understand the content of text in the way we do.
What schema markup does is to help search engines understand your content more precisely, which can lead to more accurate indexing for queries.
Why schema markup matters
Rich results offer more relevant information, such as star ratings, images, prices, or event dates, above standard text results. Naturally, this helps make your listing stand out.
While schema doesn’t directly boost rankings, it does improve how your pages appear in search engine results pages (SERPs).
When eligible and displayed, rich results can increase visibility and improve user experience to help drive higher click-through rates, even if you aren’t in the #1 spot.
Schema is increasingly important for AI‑driven search such as Google’s AI Overviews, helping AI systems better understand content context.
Key examples of schema markup can include:
- Organisation: Defines a company’s information, including brand name, logo, and social media profiles.
- Products: Essential for e-commerce. Highlights price, availability, and review ratings directly in search results.
- Local Business: Defines specific business locations, operating hours, and contact details for maps and search.
- FAQs: Converts frequently asked questions into a clickable dropdown format, taking up more search results space.
- Article/Blog Posting: Used for news articles and blog posts to display headlines, authors, and publish dates.
- Recipe: For cooking sites, showing ratings, cooking times, and nutritional info.
- Person/Author: Defines who wrote the content, including name and role, helping establish expertise and trust.
- Event: Displays upcoming events with dates and locations directly in search results.
Schema markup without a developer
The great thing is that you don’t need to be a coder to get the benefits of schema on your pages.
Google Structured Data Markup Helper is a free, official tool that lets you highlight elements on your page to generate the code.
On WordPress, you can find plugins like Rank Math or WP SEO Structured Data Schema that can help you include schema markup easily.
Then again, to be certain of getting the best results from this powerful SEO tool, enlisting the services of an agency who specialise in SEO would be your best bet. Contact us about our SEO services.