Using Schema Markup To Make Your Site Pop
Imagine this scenario, you are searching the web for a certain content type. In the vastness of Google search results, one seems to draw your attention. It looks similar to the other ones, but it kind of stands out. It has more elements. (a picture, a rating, or some organized text in a way you haven’t seen on the others) What are the odds you will be more attracted to and therefore click on that one versus the normal, generic link? I guess the odds are huge, or precisely 35% higher according to this study from CXL Institute, and that the power of Schema Markup.
We want you to use all of the possibilities your WordPress website has to offer. So, let us show you how to add schema to WordPress!
What is Schema Markup?
Schema (also referred to as Structured Data) is a type of microdata added to your page. While using search engines, it is displayed in the link’s description in the form of a rich snippet. By using schema markups, you are not making your site rank higher by default, but it makes it stand out visually from the crowd. It also adds a context to your link. All those automated systems now know that the link they are showing is referring to a person, an event, a video or even a grandma’s pie recipe.
Does It Work On Mobile Too?
Of course, it does! It works everywhere. Schema app structured data is still in its beginnings when it comes to mobile, but Google has been showing rich result for mobile search for quite some time.
Types Of Schema Markup
Schema comes in all different shapes and sizes. Depending on the content you want your viewers to be focused on you should choose accordingly. There are many schema “presets” available, both in schema markup plugins and by using specific codes. Some of the more common ones are listed below:
- Product – You can add things like a price, a review, and even availability.
- Movie – You can see how the rating system can complement the information given to us by IMDB.
- Video – You can even show a video thumbnail with your link. That is a sure way to attract some views.
- Event – Showing dates, information about sales, locations, all is possible implementing schema .
- Recipe – This grandma either has 162 grandchildren, with a various liking of her cooking, or she shared her recipe with other people. Either way, she showed us how we can use rich snippets to know something about her cooking, without even looking inside.
There are more elements you can put in any of these types, but not all of the sites use the full power of it. Certainly, that could also be a Google algorithm’s choice.
How To Add Schema Markup To Your Site
Just like with anything WordPress has to offer, you can do this manually or automatically with WordPress schema plugin. Both ways are equally as good, but of course, you can do more if you go manual. It’s something to think about in the future. In any case, with this in mind, we will be showing you both methods so you will be ready for anything.
Using Schema Plugins
First, we will go through adding schema the easy way. There are a lot of plugins for wordpress to choose from out there, but we will present some of the more common and popular ones. Note that, these plugins don’t clash with SEO plugins like Yoast SEO for example, so do not worry. Firstly, let us explain how to install one of these helpful creations.
To install any plugin you need to:
- Go to the “Plugins” section.
- Click on “Add New” in the upper left corner.
- Search for the desirable plugin. (Schema is what we need now)
- Click “Install Now”.
Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets
This is a free rich snippet plugin made by beautiful people from Brainstorm Force. (“A team of passionate hackers, designers, writers, marketers, artists, and creators”) The fact that it is free, and that it works just as well as paid ones should be its biggest “selling” point. The 100,000+ number of active installs also backs that up. It is easy to use and comes with a number of premade types:
- Review
- Event
- People
- Product
- Recipe
- Software Application
- Video
- Articles
After you installed it, to use it all you have to do is:
- Go to “Configure Rich Snippet” section (somewhere in the bottom of WordPress post/page you are editing):
- Choose the schema markup type and fill the information. In fact, here we used a character (specifically the villain) from an older animated movie called “Ratatouille”. If you haven’t watched it after you are done making your site more interesting, go watch it, it’s a must-watch for sure!
- That’s it. As a result, your rich snippet is added to the page, and if the Google algorithm approves it, you just got a pretty professional looking site/link.
Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP
Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP comes with some extra options and possibilities when compared to the plugin we described above. It has a free and premium version (99-499$), but the free one already offers a lot. It has over 10k active installations as well as a great score.
Making a Preset
Before using this plugin, you need to make a preset.
- Go to Structured Data somewhere on the bottom left of your screen.
- Click on “Add Schema Type”.
- A quick wizard will pop up where you will choose a type (There is a bigger selection here than in All In One Schema plugin). Then, click next.
- Finally, choose a placement for it.
To start using this plugin on your WordPress sites you need to scroll down and find “Post Specific Schema“. If you already made a great schema preset with this plugin, you can just leave it like it is, but if not, click on Modify Current Schema.
If you have more than one presets, you will see a similar list of choices. You can select one, or multiple options.
On the right side, you will see a lot of information you should fill, to use the full power of structured data. (Author Name, Author Image, Cook Time, Prepare Time, etc.)
What we like about this plugin is that it even has an “Add Custom Schema” button.
This is where you can add a code for some additional purposes.
Schema Pro
Schema Pro is another great schema rich snippet plugin but it comes with a price. You can get it for either 79$ a year or pay a 249$ fee that would last a lifetime. It is developed by the same people who brought you the Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets, so there is practically a guarantee it will do its job.
The plugin provides 13 different schema types which are more than enough for standard users. It also comes with more options than the All In One Schema plugin. It is really user-friendly, and all the customization is one click away.
*Most plugins have color and some other customizations so you can blend schema with your site’s theme/design.
The Manual Way
It shouldn’t scare you to use a couple of lines of code now and then. It adds a lot of freedom to your design choices and functionality of your site. For example, you can use a couple of different schema markup types combined. Here, we will show a couple of tricks on how you can do all the stuff we already explained and more but this time using your own code.
There is an in-depth tutorial on how to get started using microdata on the schema.org, so we will cover just the basics.
First things first, we need to enable Custom Fields so we can add our code. To do this you need to:
- Go to “Screen Options” in the upper right corner and make sure the “Custom Fields” option is checked.
- Go to the “Custom Fields” section and press the “Enter New” button.
- Write a name in the “Name” section and your code in the “Value” section and press “Add Custom Field“.
Understanding A Simple Code
The recommended format is JSON-LD, but we will use microdata in this guide since it is easier for beginners to understand. You should start your code with something fairly similar to :
| <div itemscope itemtype =”http://schema.org/Movie”> |
Word “itemtype” defines a type of schema from schema.org. Here we used a “Movie” schema type. Next, you need to tell us what is the movie you are talking about. This is where we are adding item property called “name”.
Matrix |
Now you can add more details about a movie like a director and some information about him. We will use a new itemtype here called “Person”.
| <div itemprop=”director” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Person”>
Director: <span itemprop=”name”>Lana Wachowski</span> (born <span itemprop=”birthDate”>June 21, 1965</span>) </div> |
You can then add a genre, some other information, a movie rating and a bunch of other data. It’s all up to you. Go wild!
A JSON-LD code would look something like this:
| <script type=”application/ld+json”>
{ “@context”:”http://schema.org”, “@type”:”Movie”, “name”:”Matrix”, “director”:{ “@type”:”Person”, “name”:”Lana Wachowski”}, …. } </script> |
Furthermore, if you are not up for learning all the technical stuff from schema.org, there is a useful tool you could use called “JSON-LD Schema Generator For SEO“. In particular, it makes your life easier by generating the code automatically. It uses JSON-LD as it says in the name. It is very simple to use and the process is as follows.
- You need to choose one of the available types of schema markups that best suits your needs.
- Add desirable information. (*Having Magic Shoes is optional)
- Copy/paste the generated code into your Custom Fields, and voila, it’s done.
With this in mind, you are now pretty up to date with your schema markup information. Go and make your WordPress sites more interesting to the audience.
Schema Markup Guidelines
It’s important to note that there is a chance Google won’t ever show your structured data or that it will be shown in some time in the future. Its algorithm tends to create the best searching experience for users. Thus, sometimes it can lead to it thinking the plain blue link is the most appropriate for your site.
For technical problems and tests, you should use the Structured Data Testing Tool and URL Inspection tool. Those tools will show you all that is wrong with your schema data. If you are using a rich snippets WordPress plugin, it is not very likely an error will occur.
*Things you should be careful with:
- Check if your schema is based on potentially misleading content.
- Do not make the content you are referring to in schema hidden from search engines.
- Double-check if your shema data is incorrect in a way that the test tool doesn’t check.
- Your content should be up-to-date. Data including old dates won’t be shown.
- Schema needs to have original information, no copyrighted material, please!
- Don’t make false claims or link false reviews, the ones we showed in examples are just for show (and fun).
- Above all, there must be no promoting of violence, hatred or dangerous activities. Read more about guidelines here.
When it comes to available formats, you can choose one of the following:
- JSON-LD (recommended)
- Microdata
- RDFa
*We must warn you that if your site doesn’t comply with Google’s guidelines, there is a big chance Google will take action. Though, even if that happens, you can fix it and submit your site for another review.
Conclusion
Finally, Adding schema is not a hard thing to do. You can do it automatically or with some minor coding. Just follow the guidelines and it should all work out just fine. If you already did everything to make your site be the best it can be why not go another step forward? Using schema markups is not a need, it’s a luxury. The luxury anyone can afford. So just use it and prosper!
Also, while schema is great for presenting your content in search pages, your site needs to rank well if your schema markup will get any visibility. Read our WordPress SEO guide to learn how to optimize your website.
