Microdata Schema : How can Microdata schema Improve SEO with Examples

In this article, we will explore what microdata schema is, how it works, and provide some examples to help you better understand its importance.

What is Microdata Schema?

Microdata schema is a markup language that provides a standardized way of adding structured data to web pages. It uses HTML tags to describe information about the content on a web page, such as product reviews, events, recipes, and more. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index the content on a web page, which can help improve the visibility and ranking of the website.

How Does Microdata Schema Work?

Microdata schema uses a set of properties and item types to describe the content on a web page. Properties describe specific attributes of an item, while item types describe the type of item being described. For example, the property "name" might be used to describe the name of a person, while the item type "Person" would be used to indicate that the content being described is a person.

Microdata schema is implemented using HTML tags, specifically the "itemprop" attribute. This attribute is used to define the properties of an item, and is placed within an HTML tag that describes the item. These attributes are called itemtype, itemprop, and itemscope.

The itemtype attribute specifies the type of data being defined. For example, itemtype="http://schema.org/Product" would indicate that the data being defined is a product.

The itemprop attribute specifies the property of the data being defined. For example, itemprop="name" would indicate that the data being defined is the name of the product.

The itemscope attribute is used to define the scope of the data being defined. It is added to the outermost HTML element that contains the data being defined.

For example, if you wanted to describe a product on your website, you might use the following

Example Microdata schema HTML Code:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
  <h1 itemprop="name">Example Product</h1>
  <img itemprop="image" src="example-image.jpg">
  <p itemprop="description">This is an example product description.</p>
  <span itemprop="brand">Example Brand</span>
  <span itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer">
    Price: $99.99
    <span itemprop="priceCurrency" content="USD"></span>
  </span>
</div>  
  

In this example, the itemtype attribute is set to http://schema.org/Product, indicating that the data being defined is a product. The itemprop attribute is used to define various properties of the product, such as its name (name), image (image), description (description), brand (brand), and price (offers).

Examples of Microdata Schema

Microdata schema can be used to describe a wide range of content types, including products, events, recipes,Local Business and more. Here are a few examples:

Product Schema

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
  <h1 itemprop="name">Product Name</h1>
  <img itemprop="image" src="product-image.jpg" alt="Product Image">
  <p itemprop="description">Product Description</p>
  <span itemprop="price">$25</span>
  <div itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
    <span itemprop="ratingValue">4.5</span> stars 
    - based on <span itemprop="reviewCount">25</span> reviews
  </div>
</div>

In this example, we're using the "Product" item type to describe a product on our website. We're also using the "AggregateRating" item type to describe the product's rating and review count.

Event Schema

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Event">
  <h1 itemprop="name">Event Name</h1>
  <img itemprop="image" src="event-image.jpg" alt="Event Image">
  <p itemprop="description">Event Description</p>
  <div itemprop="location" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Place">
    <h2 itemprop ="name">Event Location</h2>
<p itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<span itemprop="streetAddress">123 ABC Street</span><br>
<span itemprop="addressLocality">City</span>, <span itemprop="addressRegion">State</span> <span itemprop="postalCode">12345671</span>
</p>

  </div>
  <div itemprop="startDate" content="2023-05-01T09:00">May 1st, 2023 at 9:00am</div>
  <div itemprop="endDate" content="2023-05-01T17:00">May 1st, 2023 at 5:00pm</div>
  <div itemprop="performer" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
    <h2 itemprop="name">Event Performer</h2>
    <p itemprop="description">Performer Description</p>
  </div>
</div>

In this example, we're using the "Event" item type to describe an event on our website. We're also using the "Place" item type to describe the event's location, and the "Person" item type to describe the event performer.

Recipe Schema

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Recipe">
  <h1 itemprop="name">Recipe Name</h1>
  <img itemprop="image" src="recipe-image.jpg" alt="Recipe Image">
  <p itemprop="description">Recipe Description</p>
  <ul itemprop="recipeIngredient">
    <li>Ingredient 1</li>
    <li>Ingredient 2</li>
    <li>Ingredient 3</li>
  </ul>
  <ol itemprop="recipeInstructions">
    <li>Step 1</li>
    <li>Step 2</li>
    <li>Step 3</li>
  </ol>
  <div itemprop="nutrition" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/NutritionInformation">
    <span itemprop="calories">500</span> calories
  </div>
</div>

In this example, we're using the "Recipe" item type to describe a recipe on our website. We're also using the "NutritionInformation" item type to describe the recipe's nutritional information.

Local Business

If you want to use microdata schema for a local business, you can use the "LocalBusiness" item type to describe your business. Here's an example of how you can write microdata schema data for a local business:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">
  <h1 itemprop="name">Business Name</h1>
  <img itemprop="image" src="business-image.jpg" alt="Business Image">
  <p itemprop="description">Business Description</p>
  <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
    <span itemprop="streetAddress">123 Main Street</span><br>
    <span itemprop="addressLocality">City</span>, <span itemprop="addressRegion">State</span> <span itemprop="postalCode">12345</span>
  </div>
  <div itemprop="telephone">123-456-7890</div>
  <div itemprop="email">info@business.com</div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Monday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="09:00">
    <meta itemprop="closes" content="17:00">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Tuesday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="09:00">
    <meta itemprop="closes" content="17:00">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Wednesday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="09:00">
    <meta itemprop="closes" content="17:00">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Thursday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="09:00">
    <meta itemprop="closes" content="17:00">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Friday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="09:00">
    <meta itemprop="closes" content="17:00">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Saturday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="10:00">
    <meta itemprop="closes" content="14:00">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="openingHoursSpecification" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/OpeningHoursSpecification">
    <meta itemprop="dayOfWeek" content="Sunday">
    <meta itemprop="opens" content="Closed">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/GeoCoordinates">
    <meta itemprop="latitude" content="with perfect latitude numbers">
    <meta itemprop="longitude" content="with perfect longitude numbers">
  </div>
  <div itemprop="sameAs" href="https://www.facebook.com/business">Facebook Page</div>
  <div itemprop="sameAs" href="https://twitter.com/business">Twitter Profile</div>
  <div itemprop="sameAs" href="https://youtube.com/business">YouTube Links</div>
  <div itemprop="sameAs" href="https://www.yelp.com/business">Yelp Page</div>

</div>

In the example above, we've used the "LocalBusiness" item type to describe a local business. We've included several properties such as name, image, description, address, telephone, email, opening hours, geo coordinates, and links to social media profiles. Let's take a closer look at some of the properties:

• name: This property is used to specify the name of the business. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the name property as "name".

• address: This property is used to specify the physical address of the business. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the address property as "address". We've also used the "PostalAddress" item type to further describe the address.

• telephone: This property is used to specify the telephone number of the business. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the telephone property as "telephone".

• email: This property is used to specify the email address of the business. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the email property as "email".

• openingHoursSpecification: This property is used to specify the opening hours of the business. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the opening hours property as "openingHoursSpecification". We've also used the "OpeningHoursSpecification" item type to further describe the opening hours.

• geo: This property is used to specify the geo coordinates of the business. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the geo property as "geo". We've also used the "GeoCoordinates" item type to further describe the geo coordinates.

• sameAs: This property is used to specify links to the business's social media profiles. In our example, we've used the itemprop attribute to define the sameAs property as "sameAs". We've also used the href attribute to specify the URL of each social media profile.

By including microdata schema data in your website's HTML code, you can help search engines understand the content of your website and display more relevant search results for users. Additionally, microdata schema data can also improve the appearance of your search engine listings by including rich snippets, such as images and ratings, which can help attract more clicks from users.

By using microdata schema on a website, search engines can better understand the content and display rich snippets in search results, just like with other forms of schema markup.

How Can Microdata Schema Improve SEO?

By adding microdata schema to your website, you can provide search engines with a better understanding of the content on your pages. This, in turn, can lead to the display of rich snippets in search results. Rich snippets are enhanced search results that provide more information about a webpage than a standard search result.

For example, if you add microdata schema to a product page on your website, search engines may display a rich snippet in search results that includes the product’s name, image, price, and availability. This can help your website stand out in search results and potentially lead to more clicks and traffic.

In addition to improving the appearance of search results, microdata schema can also help search engines better understand the relationships between different pieces of content on your website. This can improve the overall relevance and context of your website in search results.

How to Implement Microdata Schema on Your Website?

Implementing microdata schema on your website involves adding the appropriate HTML attributes to the elements on your pages that contain structured data. Here are the steps to follow:

• Identify the data on your website that you want to markup with microdata schema. This could include products, articles, events, reviews, and more.

• Determine the appropriate schema type for the data you want to markup. You can find a list of schema types on schema.org.

• Add the appropriate itemtype, itemprop, and itemscope attributes to the HTML elements that contain the data you want to markup. Make sure to use the correct values for each attribute based on the schema type you have chosen.

• Test your microdata schema using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. This will help you identify any errors or warnings and ensure that your markup is valid.

Add microdata schema to additional pages on your website as needed. Remember to follow the same process for each page and ensure that your markup is consistent throughout your website.

Conclusion

Microdata schema is a powerful tool that can help improve your website’s SEO by providing search engines with a better understanding of your content. By implementing microdata schema, you can potentially improve the appearance of search results and increase traffic to your website. Remember to follow best practices when implementing microdata schema, such as using the appropriate schema types and testing your markup for validity.