Product schema markup is a search engine optimization (SEO) tactic that every ecommerce site should be using. It tells search engines things like what your product is, where it is located, and how much it costs.
By adding a product schema markup to your product listings, you can boost your search engine ranking and drive more traffic to your site.
A product schema is a way to structure data and provide detailed information that a shopper may find useful when searching for items online. Search engines use this information to filter results and provide users with more relevant listings when looking for a specific item. Based on the terms of the search and the related schema markup data, a search engine will rank products (or any other page) according to relevance.
By feeding more information to search engines, you can increase the relevancy of your results and drive high-value visitors to your website. As search engines scan pages using automated bots (called web crawlers), this information is an additional layer of details.
Product schema markups improve your SEO and provide relevant results to any person searching for a product.
The data you provide in your product schema markup should be descriptive enough to help search engines identify the difference between you and your competitors. This may include geographic information, operating hours, price, or any other important details that may be useful to a customer’s search.
A schema markup can be added to any existing website. However, you should consider a few things during the process. Schema.org provides a detailed guide for adding structured data to your product pages using predefined properties that you can populate according to your needs.
The Schema.org vocabulary supports different encodings, including:
Once you know the different properties available and what encoding to use for your site, you can use a product schema generator to rewrite your website's code with the additional information. This saves you the time required to rewrite your entire site with product schema code.
Before you start generating your site’s product schema, consider the following five tips.
Search engines use your schema markup data to generate featured snippets about your products. Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are constantly evolving, and ecommerce companies need to adapt to the latest changes. Schema data is now one of the key elements used for ranking web pages, especially for ecommerce sites.
Google even goes as far as looking for your product's Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and your Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) when classifying and ranking your page. Search engines use your linked information with this metadata to match your product to a user's search intent.
This means the more details you provide in your schema, the more likely you’ll rank higher in search results.
Products have their own schema markup best practices compared to other types of websites. For instance, if you add structured data to every product page, you won't need to add additional markups to summary pages that contain links to your individual product pages.
According to Google, for a category page listing several products (or any other type of lists), you should only mark up the pages linked from the category page and not the listing page itself. Web crawlers will understand that a summary page links to individual products.
However, if you add schema markups for one product, then you should do so for all other linked products for the crawler to correctly index and list your page.
Your schema markup aims to add some educational value with your products that machines can classify, rank, and return to users based on their keyword search. You'll need to develop a methodology for how you add information to your product listings and link any product-related text with relevant schema information.
You may want to add details like:
When your site includes product images, schema markups need additional information like the image’s size. Google uses this information to provide a detailed snippet and image in search results, increasing click-through rates to your ecommerce site, instead of sending them to one of your competitors.
Images should contain information such as name, size, price, currency, and availability. You should also include other relevant information like color, size, and material type if it applies to your products.
Researching commonly asked questions about your products and including answers to those questions in your schema markup will increase your search engine rankings drastically.
Search engines are always trying to match results with user intent and if you have answers included in your schema, it makes it easier to rank your site. Even if you have answers in your FAQ pages, you shouldn't depend on these to influence your product page ranking.
Adding the answers to your product schema for each product will allow search engines to match your product with a specific question a person may be searching for, thereby ranking higher than other products.
With ecommerce ventures, you’ll need to update your strategy constantly to remain competitive and ensure your site ranks among the top results. ConfigureID can assist with a product customization platform that provides you with all the latest tools to make your ecommerce business a success.
To discover what ConfigureID can do for you, contact us today.
