Much has been written about the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and its impact on the amount of traffic a business website receives. Becoming equally critical to the success of a company or organization website is structured data – an on-page markup facilitates search engines to better understand information presently on a web page and subsequently utilize that data to improve the site’s search results listing.
Essentially, structured data enables search engines to genuinely understand a website. Structured data is added directly to a web page’s HTML markup, allowing search engines to generate what is known as “rich snippets” which are small pieces of information that appears in search results. Boiled down, structured data is the additional information that appears next to a website. As example, if you’re searching for a specialty store, you will see the name of the store plus information such as hours, address, featured specials and pricing. This type of added information can go a long way in improving a business’s search results listing.
Since structured data uses HTML code, some business owners may opt to retain a web developer to implement and manage. However, third party services, such as Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper is a valuable no-cost tool that can help get a business website get started with structured data. This highly effective markup tool helps enhance Google’s comprehension of content on a website; this content can then be used for your search engine results.
While Google’s Structured Data and other third party devices can provide microdata markup that can be integrated into your website, chances are as a business owner you’re more interested – and have more expertise—in growing your company than trying to figure out the complexities of back end web functions. As such, it may be in your best interest to retain a web developer to assist in the process.
