What is Schema Markup?

Schema Markup Structured data vs SEO

Schema Markup (aka SEO on Steroids)

You might have heard that Schema is the future of SEO. Allow us to agree with a few fancy case studies presented at Google I/O ’17:

Cliff notes - Websites using Schema Markup and rich results help increase engagement and clicks online to the tune of:

Case Studies Results:

  • 25% higher click-through rate on pages with markup (Rotten Tomatoes)
  • 35% increase in visits for recipes with markup  (Food Network)
  • 1.5% more time spent on pages and 3.6x higher interaction rate (Rakuten)
  • 82% higher click-through rate for rich result pages (Nestle Faz Ben)
  • 20% more clicks for pages with Schema Markup (La Fourchette)

Any reputable search expert will tell you that the time to dive into schema is NOW. Even though websites that use schema markup statistically rank higher on search queries, only 0.3% of websites are making use of the Google-approved Schema tool.


What is Schema Markup for Technical Folks?

Schema markup is the global vocabulary that can be used with many different encodings, including RDFa, microdata and JSON-LD. Added to HTML microdata, schema markup help search engines return more informative results to users. Rich snippets are the best example of schema markup.

what is schema markup

What is Schema Markup (for the rest of us)?

Schema is a way to classify online content so users can quickly identify what they are looking for in a visually rich and meaningful preview. It makes the difference between opening 10 tabs hoping that someone has the info you are looking for and finding it on the search result page – or at least knowing for sure you’re only one click away. Schema Markup uses structured data which gives more relevant meaning to your content.  

What is schema markup


If we help search engines understand what our web pages mean, we begin to create the connection or relevance for our brand and search engines can help our brand find more of the right people with the intent to buy organically.

What makes Schema Markup the next logical step in search?

Users are progressively interacting more with search results than with websites. So as much as we suspect that Google knows waaay more about us than we can ever imagine (and they probably do), it still can’t look you in the face and know what your real intent is behind a simple search. Until we allow Google to insert a chip into our brains to understand this, Schema is there to facilitate user experience by making it easier to find what you are actually looking for.

Book about schema  markup and voice search

Bethanie is the author of Discovered: Dominate online and voice search without wasting time or money


Learn what you need to know about how to leverage emerging technologies (like Schema and Voice) to stand out in search.