Long before flashy SERPs, schema was the not-so-secret code that added flavor to the 10 blue links. When used correctly, this code could do everything from helping movie ratings appear in SERPs to getting recipe pages to show extra details beyond titles and metas.
As SERPs have gotten more complex and even given way to AI searches via LLMs, schema might seem like it’s on its way out. But this valuable tool is still crucial for organizing content and spoon feeding important elements to our robot friends. And because SEO still isn’t dead, schema has value in its SERP enhancing capabilities.
Today, there are numerous types of schema that help websites organize their content for AI tools and stand out on SERPs.
I’m making my case for my longtime favorite SEO element: schema.
What is schema?
Schema has two main definitions, one rooted in psychology and the other in data organization. For SEO, we’re concerned with schema’s definition as a structured data framework. Schema is code that’s fed to crawlers to help add some extra, direct context about information on a website.
There are seemingly endless types of schema. Popular kinds include organization, author, product, article, and FAQ. Each helps to break out information from a webpage in a quickly digestible and organized manner.
Schema’s Benefits
Even as everyone pushes for new kinds of search with AI tools, schema is still in play. This is because many LLMs use their own systems that can benefit from schema. The markup gives LLMs and traditional SEO crawlers context, organization, and key information that helps improve the way your site appears in results.
Entity Optimization
Entities are the new “E” in SEO. An entity can be a variety of things such as a person, business, product, place, event, or concept. Optimizing for entities rather than just keywords helps improve the scope of your site’s content and keeps it relevant for AI tools by improving contextual cues.
This is where schema comes in. It’s a vital tool for spelling out your desired entities so crawlers and LLM tools can digest the information easily. The right schema can help you identify key components of your pages by highlighting the people, organization, products, and services you’d like to rank while drawing links between related elements more consistently.
Data Organization
Even as SERPs and searches evolve, schema retains value today as a tool to help organize data in a more digestible way. Through markup language, you can highlight key components of a page. It helps ensure these pieces are crawled and indexed with the intended context.
SERP Display Enhancement
Yes, SERPs are still kicking! Schema still carries its classic value of optimizing the way pages display on SERPs. Enhanced SERP displays are often more engaging than standalone titles and metas (that Google often rewrites anyway). A more eye-catching SERP ranking with schema can help improve CTR.
How to Use Schema
Chances are, your CMS already has the tools to incorporate schema. For tools like WordPress, it’s usually a quick toggle built into your system. A more complex or proprietary CMS will likely use schema through JSON-LD in the site’s HTML code.
No matter how you inject schema in your site, you’ll need to start by identifying which types of schema you’d like to use. You can do this by seeing what types are already programmed into the elements you’re using in your CMS. To be extra thorough, check the types on schema.org to see what works for your site. If you need a little help, consider organization, author, product, and article as starting points. You can also peek at the schema your competitors are using for some inspiration by running URLs through schema validator tools.
Once you’ve picked your schema, add it to your site with the relevant fields filled out. You’ll then need to check that your data is working correctly. You can use the Google Rich Results Test and the schema.org validator. Personally, I like to run webpages or code snippets through both validators to see their results. These tools will help you see what’s working in your schema and what needs to be adjusted. With a little effort and code tweaks, you can get schema on your site that helps improve the organization and communication of key data.
FAQs About Schema for SEO
No, schema is not necessarily a requirement for websites. But if you’d like to set your site up for SEO and LLM success, schema is a key component.
Yes, schema is a free markup language that helps organize key site data.
Properly utilized schema markup helps SEO. It improves data organization for crawlers, enhances SERP display, and strengthens entity optimization.
