Get visible with Schema

On the 2nd June 2011, Google, Bing and Yahoo! announced the introduction of a new tagging standard named Schema.org. As the major search engine results pages (Google in particular) are becoming more diverse, Schema is the new agreed universal method of improving how sites appear by structuring website data with the application of tagging code. Schema supersedes Google’s rich snippets which had been recently updated to include rich snippets for local search.

Schema uses microdata, introduced with HTML5 – simple tags that describes website content in a way that makes it more easy for a search engine to break down and interpret. There are 2 areas of microdata to consider in Schema:

a) Itemscope & itemtype. Itemscope would involve tagging the salient points of the page for example, in a blog it could be the title, the author and any category labels from within the blog. Itemtype is basically categorisation – there is a category for reviews as part of the standard Schema hierarchy.

b) itemprop. This is where a website can really demonstrate value to the search engines. For a review site, t could be the brand, retailer, the number of reviews for the retailer/brand in question, associated ratings or review date.

If you are interested in implementing Schema.org, the first part in my view is a content assessment with a view to providing the ultimate Schema orientated result. This could mean aggregating review stats or adding in external/internal links to relevant information. Let Schema challenge you and your website to become more visible in search engine results pages.