ctured data and schema testing can increase SERP visibility.
Over the past few years, SEOs have faced a steady decline in click-through rates.
With organic ranking becoming increasingly competitive, the best way SEOs can continue to excel is to shift their focus to <a href="https://searchengineland.com/optimize-content-strategy-google-serp-features-429776#:~:text=Knowledge%20panels%20and%20rich%20results%20are%20powerful%20SERP%20features%20that,media%20profiles%2C%20and%20notable%20achievements." Tanner Zoromski is the SEO manager of Merkle. The company specializes in customer experience management.
Technical SEO can be used to improve this type of visibility by using structured information and schema markup. He explained:
- We want to make the lives of search engines easier. By using these techniques, we will be rewarded with higher rankings in SERPs and more interaction from users.
Zoromski presented the following summary on how structured data and schema tests can improve SERP visibility at SMX Advance.
Search is changing
Search is constantly evolving. Structured data, Zoromski explained, can give sites the edge they need to communicate effectively with search engines as new features are implemented.
- I want to emphasize that Google continues to test and implement changes to its search engine, relying on more information scraped off of websites. We are also seeing results that look more like product listings – which gives clues as to where Google wants to take their product.
- This means that we must ask ourselves how to remain at the forefront. How can we best communicate with search engines? How can we ensure that we are still visible and first despite all these changes?
Understanding the scope of schema
The SEO expert explained the importance of knowing which schemes are available, and how to deploy them correctly for maximum impact.
- There are over 32 different types schemas that can be used to interact with the 16 different SERP features.
- It’s important that we understand the schema we can use to help search engine index our websites, whether we’re writing articles, blogs or reviewing movies.
Win with product schema
Zoromski explained that SEOs could implement product schemas, images, and descriptions on all pages in order to win position zero – also known as feature snippets.
- Implement this type of scheme to prevent traffic going to competitors.
- Make sure that your brand puts its best foot forward by answering questions from consumers about the products.
- Schema is the way to go on this one.” “Additionally make sure that your narrative stays on topic and relevant for what you need as a brand, so that you win at position zero.” Schema will work for this.
Results that shout about
Zoromski presented a case-study that he personally worked on. His team was able, by replacing microdata with structured data and correcting the microdata, to double the organic sessions of a recipe site.
- My team was given a challenging task – to review some improperly nesting microdata which caused error in recipe videos and article marking on a blog.
- When we looked at SERPs for this keyword, all the organic listings had structured data. There wasn’t a single organic listing among the top results. This hammers home to the need to implement and be visible.
- Our recommendation was that the client remove microdata from the markup and replace it instead with JSON LD. We provided JSON-LD template for structured data types such as Article, Video and Recipe, as well as Recipes with Nested Videos.
- “As a consequence, the structured data for recipes and articles returned a 101% increase in organic session.”
- This is a pretty obvious demonstration that schema on these pages really increased their visibility and engagement with searchers.
Tracking performance
Zoromski recommended building your own SEO tests to track performance, and taking into account multiple factors, including:
- Establish the metrics and dimensions that will be affected.
- Building custom reports to monitor KPI performances.
- Determining the testing timeline to guarantee results within a specified period.
- Controlling for external and internal variables, such as site promotion and dev release.
- Allowing for assumptions which could affect results.
- Reporting findings to other teams
AI is the future of schema
- SEO will be impacted by the recent buzz surrounding ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard.
- The search behavior will change, as AI answers are more in natural language than a list with links.
- As SEOs, it is our responsibility to ensure that, in the future, all of our websites are capable and equipped to interact effectively with these changes. Keep an eye out and be sure to stay on top of the changes.
The first Search Engine Land article to appear was Increase SERP Visibility with Structured Data and Schema Testing.