Struggling to boost your business’s online visibility?
We know how challenging it can be. Don’t fret, we can help you improve your business’s local search visibility. Have you thought of giving schema markup a try? It has been found that leveraging relevant schema markups can significantly boost a local business’s visibility in Google search results. Read this blog post all the way through to find out how.
Schema Markup In A Nutshell
Schema markup, that also goes by the name structured data, came into being in 2011 when four major search engines namely- Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex– agreed to enable webmasters help search engines understand what their websites are all about. This in turn would help search engines to present the web pages with richer appearance. All a webmaster has to do is to add a few lines of codes to the site’s HTML- to give explicit clues to search engines about the context of the web page content.
That’s pretty much it… so why is it so important & beneficial?
Schema Markups Relevant To Local Businesses
There are many different types of Schema Markups- each tailored to convey a very specific data to search engines. Listed below are some schema markups that can be used by local businesses for enhanced search visibility;
#1- LocalBusiness
This is perhaps the most important schema type that a local business can make use of to improve its local search ranking. It can be used to provide search engines with NAP data (such as business name, address, phone number), opening and closing hours, and geographical coordinates.
#2- Organization
The organization schema, just like the LocalBusiness schema, allows user to provide more detailed information about a business like its name, logo, contact detail, and social media profiles to search engines. Just so you know, Google makes use of this schema data to present information about a business or organization in knowledge panel.
#3- BreadcrumbList
Use of this schema makes it possible for the search engine to figure out the exact position of a specific page in the site hierarchy. It allows the user and search engine to navigate between different pages of the site- which is something that can significantly enhance a site’s local organic rank.
#4- Review
Another important schema type that every local business should be aware of is review schema. Appropriate use of this schema can help the search engine display individual reviews, ratings, and review text in the search results. It can significantly improve a site’s trustworthiness and credibility.
Benefits Of Schema Markup For Local Businesses
#1- Increased search visibility
Schema markups, as we have already discussed, help search engines understand what a specific web page/ site is all about. If you decide to implement these markups, you are making it easier for search engines to have a better understanding of your site’s structure and content. This is something that can boost your site’s search ranking with respect to certain location specific keywords.
#2- Rich snippets
Another benefit of implementing schema markup is that- the search engine will now generate rich snippets in search results based on the additional data provided by you. By the way… rich snippets are known for attracting more clicks and improving site’s authority. So if you want to boost your site’s click-through-rate, there is no better way than leveraging schema markup.
#3- Local pack placement
Yup… you read that right. Likelihood of your site getting ranked in local pack for certain location specific keywords will increase significantly if you decide to implement Schema Markup. Getting top positions in local pack will attract more customers to your business which in turn will improve your revenue.
How To Implement Schema Markup For Local SEO
Strange as it may seem, generating and implementing schema markup on a site is not that great of a deal. Successful implementation of schema markup involves many different steps- most obvious ones are listed below. Please take a look.
#1- Choose relevant schema type
The very first thing that you should do is to determine the types of schema markups that you want to implement on your site. If it is a local business site- you should go for LocalBusiness, Organization, BreadcrumbList, and Review markups. Implementing the right schema type is the key to local SEO success– keep this in mind and choose the most relevant schema types for your site.
#2- Utilize structured data markup tools
As we discussed earlier, generating and implementing schema markup on a site is very easy- even for a non technical person. There are ready made tools available on the internet to generate and test structured data. Go through the documentations to get a thorough understanding of structured data generation best practices and proceed accordingly.
#3- Optimize NAP data
If you want to rank well for location specific searches, you should ensure consistent use of NAP data or business name, address, and phone number across online platforms. Google thinks of it as an important local ranking signal and if you want your local business to get placed in local pack results, you should optimize your NAP data and keep it in mind while implementing schema markup on your site.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
Listed below are a few things that you should keep in mind while crafting and deploying schema markup on your site;
- Don’t provide inaccurate information. Incomplete or inaccurate data may make it a bit difficult for the search engine to interpret your site’s data. This is something that can contribute to rank drop among other problems.
- Update structured data from time to time. If you have changed your business’s location or its operating hours have changed, please modify your schema markup accordingly. Because if you don’t… you might end up loosing a lot of traffic to your site.
In Conclusion
Implementation of schema markups can significantly improve a local business’s online visibility. It can help the business get better ranks on the local pack and in organic search results. It is quite easy to draft and deploy structured data and there are all sorts of ready-made tools available on the internet that can be used for development and deployment of structured data on sites. Seek help from an SEO expert like the team at Outreach Digital Marketing if you need further guidance. We have years of hands-on experience and are confident we can help you fulfill your online marketing needs.
