Schema Markup Explained: Types, Benefits, and Best Practices for SEO
Does it ever happen that you create amazing content but cannot seem to get it noticed by the search engines?
Don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many websites face this issue, and we are here with a solution!
The answer to your problems is implementing schema markup – it’s a code that helps search engines understand what your website is really about.
How does it help? Well, it’s simple.
If the search engines understand the intent and context of your content, they can show it to relevant users.
This can SIGNIFICANTLY boost your organic traffic and conversions, improving your overall SEO performance. Now, doesn’t that sound nice?
In this blog, we will get into the basics of schema markup and understand its types, benefits, and best practices. After all, Google loves to crawl websites that have schema!
Let’s dive in!
Now, what is schema markup?
Let’s break it down –
Also known as structured data, schema markup is a code that you can add to your web pages so the search engines understand it better.
Think of the code as a translator – it helps the search engine algorithm understand your language!
It’s needless to say if Google understands your content, it can index your website correctly and present it in relevant searches through rich snippets.
According to Backlinko, 72.6% of results on page 1 of the search results use schema.
To understand it better, check out how it looks:
Here, you can see the ratings, number of reviews, price, and delivery period – basically, additional data that gives you information without actually opening the website.
In this schema markup example, you can see the review, the time it takes to bake, and the list of ingredients ready directly on top of the SERP.
When you see relevant information instantly after searching, aren’t you more likely to click on the link for more details? That’s the beauty of schema markup!
Let’s move on to the types of schema markup.
Now,
Google supports a whopping total of 35 types of schemas, but that doesn’t mean you need to implement each one of them.
Let’s check out the top types of schemas that are relevant to most of the websites.
1. Website Schema
In simpler words, website schema helps search engines understand the purpose and content of your entire website rather than singular web pages.
It is a code you can implement on your website to tell the search engines what it’s all about so that the user gets relevant search results.
I’ll make it easier for you – consider it a name tag for your website. It makes things clearer for search engines to categorise and index it accordingly.
Website schema can introduce your website to the search engine, so it can effectively tell the users what you do.
2. Organisation Schema
Organisation schema, as the name suggests, gives search engines comprehensive information about your organisation, such as its name, contact info, social profiles, location, and more.
Search engines like Google analyse this data and create a highlighted rectangular section on the right side of the SERPs called Knowledge Panels that features all relevant business information.
Users can simply get quick access to necessary details of your company without spending too much time looking for them separately.
Honestly, this has made searches way easier. It also shows that your business is recognised by Google, adding to your credibility. Sounds pretty good, right?
Here’s how it looks on the result pages – check it out:
3. Product Schema
Simply put, the product schema markup tells the search engines what exactly your product is.
This way, the search engine can tell the user accurate information about the product’s description, price, reviews, ratings, availability and more.
Google can use this data to create rich snippets that appear right below the result on the SERP.
This is especially useful for users as they can get the necessary information upfront without browsing multiple pages.
So, how does this impact you?
If you interest the users enough by providing clear information about the product, they’re encouraged to click on your site. This can significantly increase your CTR and help with SEO performance.
Check out how it appears on the SERP:
4. Local Business Schema
Local Business Schema gives Google in-depth information about a local business such as its NAP details (name, address, phone number).
This helps Google create rich snippets or knowledge panels to help users with business information.
It can help your business appear in local searches as well as on Google Maps – notable, this can improve your local SEO performance.
It appears just like the knowledge panel, providing all the details. Check it out:
5. FAQ Schema
Let me make it easier for you – FAQ schema is a code added to your website code to help Google showcase the FAQs in search results as rich snippets instead of ratings, prices, and more.
It is a question-answer format offering the answers to the questions people may have about your business or products directly on the result page, making the results more informative and engaging.
But don’t just take my word for it —
Notably, this makes it *super* important to implement on your website if you want your results to soar!
This is how your results can look if you implement the FAQ Schema:
6. Article Schema
To put it simply, article schema helps Google understand and showcase blog posts, long-form written content, and even news articles more effectively on the SERPs.
You can get better visibility because of article schema in the Discover section, Google Search and Google News.
The rich snippets for article schema also contain refined elements such as publication date, headlines, images, and author name.
Now that we have all the top types of schemas relevant to a majority of websites –
Let’s talk about the benefits of implementing schema markups
Better visibility
As we have already discussed, the top benefit of implementing schema on your website is it improves your visibility and relevance.
By adding context to your content, schema markups help search engines understand what your content means, so they can produce it in relevant searches.
Increased CTR
Schemas also significantly boost your CTR as having clear information in your rich snippets can encourage users to click for more information.
As per a survey by WP Beginner, pages that have schema implemented have a 40% higher CTR in the search results – talk about benefits!
Improved voice search results
Structured data helps search engines interpret your content better, ensuring voice assistants pick up just the right piece and present it as a response to voice searches.
After all, search engines source their voice search responses through featured snippets, making it even more important for you to implement schema on your website.
You can read more about voice search here.
But hold on, we’re not done yet!
Let’s discuss what the best schema markup practices for SEO are.
After understanding the nitty-gritty of schema markups, you’re probably wondering, what are some things you should consider when implementing it?
Let’s start with selecting the right type of schema that suits the content on your page. It can directly affect how well Google understands your content and presents it further to relevant users.
Here’s why this matters – it can directly impact your visibility, CTR, and overall SEO performance.
Moving ahead, when choosing a format for schema markups, it is important to use the Google-recommended JSON-LD format over others.
JSON-LD has many benefits – it is easy to understand for machines, making interpreting your content much simpler.
It is also easy to implement in your website code, enabling more flexibility in your structured data.
Other than this, you should always test your schema with schema markup tools such as the Rich Result Test to ensure your code is error-free and eligible for rich snippets.
Lastly, be sure to keep up with Google’s schema guidelines for the best results.
Final thoughts
To sum it up, schema markup is structured data that helps search engines understand your content better and produce it for relevant search queries.
There are various types of schemas that you can implement depending on the intent of your content, such as FAQ schema, Local Business Schema, Article Schema, Product Schema, & more.
Implementing the right schema markup can significantly improve your SEO performance, making it the need of the hour, especially in 2025!
Start your SEO journey with us – for more details, connect with our team here!
