Structured data (also known as schema markup), is an additional layer of code that sits on a page and tells Google what kind of content the page has. Adding this markup to your Shopify website helps provide explicit clues to search engines about the meaning of a page. This makes information like price, reviews, stock levels, etc. appear on the search results page providing more incentive (and social proof) for users to click through.
If you need help with implementing structured data to your Shopify website, our expert team can assist you.
Below is an example of a recipe page with valid structured data:
Just like users, search engines can have a tough time deciphering web page content, therefore adding structured data helps Google to understand the contextual relevance of a page, which increases the likelihood of the search engine ranking the page for related queries. It is important to remember to adhere to Google's structured data guidelines when adding this markup to your Shopify store's pages.
Structured data markup has to be communicated to search engines in a certain way, so that not only do they understand it in their code-driven way, but so that it also translates well for web users. It's possible to add schema markup can be added to a page using two methods:
1 - JSON-LD (recommended)
With the JSON-LD method, the schema is inserted into the head section on a page within a script tag.
2 - Microdata
With microdata, the schema is embedded directly into HTML elements within the page.
There are a number of different elements you can add structured data to. These can include:
- Maps
- Events
- Products
- Offers
- Reviews
- Recipes
- People
Unfortunately, there’s no magic button to earn your place in the rich snippets at the top of the search engine results pages. You have to work hard on your own site's schema markup and other SEO elements, and even then, search engines can choose to ignore it.
Why is Structured Data Important for SEO on Shopify?
As we know, Google wants the results it serves to searchers to be as simple and as easy to read as possible. With its limited resource and crawl budget it often still struggles to provide the most relevant and helpful links to each query in its search engine. Structured data is important for SEO because it helps Google serve this mission more efficiently.
As structured data markup helps search engines understand your content better, this in turn helps them rank your content more accurately. A consequence of this is that they are able to present more information directly on the search results page in the form of rich snippets.
Not only do you improve the experience for search engines such as Google, but you improve the user experience - enhancing the results page with additional information enables people to resolve their queries faster. This provides users with more encouragement to click your Shopify store's page listing on the SERPs (search engine results pages).
Ranking High on SERPs Isn’t Enough!
Ranking high on SERPs is no longer enough to get people to visit your website.
Data shows that an increasing number of searches today actually never result in a click that goes beyond the results page. This is because the SERP features give searchers everything they need, like a simple answer to a question, right there on that page. Just like this:
There is an argument that users of search engines are expecting more – when searching for a hotel, we now expect a star rating or price to be shown while on the search page, and structured data can help give the additional context to show this enhanced information. Just like Amazon has created a world where we expect our purchase almost instantly, users are the same when it comes to using a search engine: they want the answer or information they are looking for right now, and with added extras!
In additions, adding structured data to provide users with information they would expect to see can also encourange a user to click your listing in the SERPs. Before clicking through to the site, a searcher has been able to preview your content. They know that the content is relevant and useful, so are more likely to click and navigate around your Shopify store.
Structured Data For Shopify
There are a number of reasons why your Shopify store would benefit from having structured data, in addition to the price, reviews, stock levels we mentioned above. These additional benefits include:
- Better SERP ranking - Helping Google understand the content of your page can boost the overall search performance of your Shopify store
- Local Search Domination - Using structured data to tell Google about your business (hours, address, contact information), will help you dominate on local SERPs
- Faster Indexation - Shopify stores usually have a vast number of web pages which can often make it hard for Google to index and crawl. Structured data can help get through yours faster and can help you get ahead with indexing
You have two main options to implement structured data into your Shopify store:
- install a Shopify app that has structured data options to add to your web pages
- tackle the task manually through code implementation
Both of these methods are fruitful if done correctly.
The easiest way to check whether your structured data markup was successfully implemented is to use Google’s Rich Results Test. You simply have to enter the URL you are looking to test, and the output will confirm the structured data present on that page, any warnings or invalid items and suggestions of how to improve your structured data.
If you are looking for an alternate tool for testing, our second recommendation would be the validator by Schema.org.
We hope you have found our guide on ‘what is structured data’ valuable and that you now understand what adding structured data can achieve for your Shopify website. If you’re interested in learning more about structured data in SEO or other ways to build your online presence, our team of SEO experts are on-hand to help. Simply get in touch with our team; we’d love to hear from you!
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