In the world of search engine optimisation, schema markups or structured data is another necessary component to understand if you want to boost your companies’ search results. A schema markup is a code of semantics that is created in order for the company to generate informative results for users.
All industries can benefit from utilising schema markups however this post will focus on how service industries like SEO Sydney can really benefit from using this service in order to differentiate themselves from other competitors and to gain a competitive advantage in the service industry market.
Below is an example of SEO Sydney utilising a site navigation schema markup to give users an understanding of a company’s site structure.
SEO TV released a video detailing how to create a schema markup for a company.
STEPS IN CREATING A SCHEMA MARKUP FOR SERVICE INDUSTRIES:
The following steps are tailored for service industries and are based on the previous video created by SEO Sydney. We have used SEO Melbourne as an example of a service based industry.
- Video [1:28]
Select what category your service company falls under and copy and paste the link of the page you want to markup.
2. Video [1:45]
Highlight the key points of the page, which are then added to the ‘My Data Items’ list.
3. Video [2:00]
Once the company has highlighted all the necessary contents of the web page that they want to markup, by clicking ‘Create HTML’ the company now has a code that they can add to their original HTML text.
4.
Once the company has created the new HTML with the schema markup, they are now able to test whether the newly created code is valid or not. They do this using the ‘Structured Data Testing Tool’.
For some sites, after the site is validated you are able to preview a sample of what the company’s new code will resemble  in the SERPs.
THE BENEFITS OF USING SCHEMA MARKUPS:
Once a service company has completed all these steps in creating a schema markup it is important to understand how this technology can benefit the service industry.
Using a schema markup provides additional information to the user and thus entices the user to visit a company’s web page. By giving the user additional information on the SERP (search engine results page), Google subtly improves a company’s ranking on the SERP. Ryan Shelley from ‘Business 2 Community’ explains that the schema markup also provides the company with a new way to target potential customers, as it increases a company’s online visibility with regards to users who are likely to benefit from that company.
Service industries can benefit from these different types of schema markups as outlined by Tony Edward from Search Engine Land:
- Organisation schema markup: Generates brand knowledge like the brand’s logo, social media links and contact information.
- Website schema markup: If a company has an existing site search configured on their web page, then this schema can enable that site search to appear on the SERP.
- Site navigation schema markup: This schema can help users understand the navigation and structure of a web page.
- Schema product and offer markup: Product and offer information such as price and status can be viewed on the SERP.
- Schema rating markup: Users are able to view a service company’s rating.
- Schema local business markup: If you are a local business, you are able to outline the business’s address, opening hours, payment types and more on the SERP.
Schema markups can also increase a company’s click through rates (CRT). CRT measures the proportion of visitors to a website.
Schema markups enable the user to view more information in the SERP. A report conducted by Georges Dupret and Ciya Liao explained how the position of the web page is also an important factor of how schema markups help administer CRT, as a company’s ranking on the SERP heavily skews the user into viewing a company’s webpage over others. This projects the company as trustworthy in comparison to the other search results that do not possess schema markups. Thus resulting in more users clicking on the schema markup search result in contrast to a non-schema markup search result.
As a company or a particular service company, it is vital to employ schema markups in order to generate more information to users and to increase a company’s CRT.
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