Schema.org is a shared markup vocabulary recognized by search engines, to provide a shared collection of schemas that webmasters can use to create On-page markup, which enables search engines to understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results in order to make it easier for users to find relevant information on the web.

Google’s Hunger For Structured Markup

May 23, 2013 at 9:31am ET by Barbara Starr

Google is keen for structured markup -- to put it mildly. In the not-too-distant past, I wrote about Google's Data Highlighter for event data, a tool which allows webmasters to indicate structured data for events without having to actually mark up the site's HTML code. It has the charming feature that the resultant extracted data is viewable by the webmaster only in Webmaster Tools in the Structured Data section; and, of course, the data is available to Google itself. As there is no actual structured markup ever placed on the page (i.e., no schema.org, microdata or any other markup), th [...]

Semantic & Graph-Based Search: The Future Face Of Search

Apr 25, 2013 at 9:00am ET by Barbara Starr

In a June 2010 Semantic Web Meetup in San Diego, Peter Mika of Yahoo!'s research division gave a presentation entitled, "The future face of Search is Semantic for Facebook, Google and Yahoo!" As the title suggests, the presentation focused on the ever-growing use of semantic markup as a means for helping computers parse and understand content. The talk focused on what was then the current state of the Semantic Web, as well as upcoming formats/technologies in development and the research being done in the field of semantic search. The idea that the Semantic Web would be central to search [...]

Why Local Retailers Should Be Using Open Graph Markup

Mar 14, 2013 at 4:24pm ET by Paul Bruemmer

Last November, Chris Sherman highlighted the findings of Forrester research in his article, Forrester Rates The Top Large Search Marketing Agencies. As Chris noted, the Forrester report asked and answered this question: “What are the biggest search marketing challenges you expect to face in the next two years?” Today, I’m convinced the findings were not only accurate, they are especially relevant for retailers. Below are the top three challenges the report uncovered: Integrating search marketing with other marketing Understanding new search engine developments Measuring h [...]

Is Google Hijacking Semantic Markup/Structured Data?

Jan 17, 2013 at 3:54pm ET by Barbara Starr

In 2012, I started a series, How The Major Search And Social Engines Are Using The Semantic Web, which took us to a point in time around September 2012. Since then, there have been further interesting developments. In this article, I am going to focus on recent developments that are search engine and/or Google specific, then take a further look back in search engine history with the assumption (for you history and strategy lovers,) that a successful strategy used once, may well be used again in similar circumstances. [caption id="attachment_144704" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Image [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

13 Semantic Markup Tips For 2013: A Local SEO Checklist

Dec 31, 2012 at 1:54pm ET by Chris Silver Smith

One of the least-tapped areas of local business website optimization continues to be semantic markup. Semantic markup can increase chances that information from your website will be highlighted in search engine results pages via rich snippets, attracting greater attention and clickthroughs. So, read on and use this checklist to see if you're exploiting all elements possible for your local business website. While special markup likely may not directly improve your rankings in search, it does apparently increase clickthrough rate or "CTR," as consumers are more drawn to your site's listings. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Local Search | Schema.org

Which Top SEO Tactics Will You Focus On In 2013?

Dec 20, 2012 at 11:54am ET by Paul Bruemmer

[caption id="attachment_141998" align="alignright" width="267"] Image via Shutterstock[/caption] SEO tactics have morphed again over the past year, including the many Google updates we've seen. For nearly any type of business, keeping up with these changes can be a challenge, but if you prioritize the tasks necessary for success in search and social media marketing, the efforts can pay large dividends. Below are my picks for the top SEO tactics to focus on in the coming year. These tactics can bring you more relevant traffic and conversions for improving your bottom line in 2013. [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | Schema.org

Examining Real World Uses Of Rich Snippets & Markup

Nov 26, 2012 at 3:11pm ET by Barbara Starr

Semantic markup is becoming more and more popular in conjunction with large scale SEO. Adding rich snippets to send rich signals to alert search engines as to the relevancy of your content − whatever vertical they may appear in − is not only a wise move, but an SEO best practice. Included below is an illustrative guide highlighting currently available Chrome extensions, which you can leverage to both test on-site markup as well as expose any information regarding your competitors. An example is illustrated below, and what follows is a guide to getting the information. Installi [...]

How Web Retailers Can Profit With Semantic SEO

Nov 23, 2012 at 11:12am ET by Paul Bruemmer

Semantic SEO is a fairly new Web marketing tactic that combines search engine optimization and semantic Web technology. Semantic SEO includes a focus on artificial intelligence to understand a user’s intent (i.e., the meaning of the query) in addition to the reliance on text, keywords and links in search algorithms. I wrote before about using structured markup in How Retailers Can Improve Product Visibility Using Structured Markup. A couple weeks ago in E-Commerce SEO Using Schema.org Just Got A Lot More Granular, Aaron Bradley wrote that Google had integrated e-commerce schemas from Good [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Top Ways B2B Marketers Can Best Utilize Rich Snippets

Nov 21, 2012 at 11:29am ET by Susan Kelly

There has been a lot of discussion in the SEO world lately around structured data and rich snippets in the SERPs. If you are not familiar with structured data, it is basically a way to explain the content of your website to the search engines in a trusted (structured) format. You can think back to the good-old-days when all you had to do was update your META tags… until this was abused so much that Google stopped using them. What Is Structured Data & Why Should You Use It? Although Google doesn’t currently use structured markup data for ranking purposes, there are several benefits [...]

E-commerce SEO Using Schema.org Just Got A Lot More Granular

Nov 9, 2012 at 12:25pm ET by Aaron Bradley

Ramanathan V. Guha of Google announced on 8 November that, effective immediately, e-commerce schemas from the GoodRelations project have been integrated into schema.org. This vastly increases the number of schema.org classes and properties available for e-commerce websites. Put another way, this means that webmasters can now provide Google, Bing, Yahoo and Yandex with much more granular information about products and offers on e-commerce sites in a manner that is officially sanctioned by these search engines. In terms of e-commerce SEO, this is potentially a pretty big deal: it is a mean [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Structured Data Markup Was Inevitable, But Is It An Admission Of Failure?

Nov 1, 2012 at 11:35am ET by Ted Ives

The movement toward structured data markup (i.e., increasing use of standards like Open Graph, Schema.org, RDFa, etc.) has bothered me for awhile, but I could not exactly put my finger on the issues. A few weeks ago at SMX East, there were some great presentations on these topics, and I finally realized that I have many major reservations about the proliferation and use of these standards, on many levels (mostly from a publisher perspective; for end-users they are generally a very positive development). What Are These Standards? They sound complicated, but in layman's terms, I would say: [...]

An Illustrated Guide To E-Commerce Markup Using GoodRelations

Oct 11, 2012 at 3:57pm ET by Barbara Starr

In How Search & Social Engines Are Using Semantic Search, I started this series with an overview. This article will give you a walk through on generating local and organization markup for a store. We will look at an alternative vocabulary, namely GoodRelations, and take a deeper dive into the specifics of generating semantic markup for the e-commerce domain using GoodRelations. To clarify, GoodRelations is a vocabulary for e-commerce. Microdata and RDFa are syntaxes. Schema.org for product is an alternate vocabulary for e-commerce. The diagram below from Linked Open Commerce gives an [...]

How Search & Social Engines Are Using Semantic Search

Sep 26, 2012 at 4:28pm ET by Barbara Starr

The term "Semantic Search" is certainly not new. However, it has taken on a new dimension and implications in both search and social engines today. In addition, it has had a strong impact on targeted semantic advertising. This special series of forthcoming articles on semantic search will take a look at the history behind the development of semantic technology and why it has now become so commercially viable and topical. It will also take a look at how the technology enables "answer engines," rather than simple search engines, to improve the user experience. For example, look at the dire [...]

Google Upgrades Their Rich Snippets Testing Tool To Better Reflect Display In Search Results

Sep 20, 2012 at 5:44pm ET by Vanessa Fox

Google has renamed its rich snippets testing tool in webmaster tools to Structured Data, improved it to better reflect what the search result will actually look like and has expanded the types of structured data supported. Google first launched rich snippets -- enhanced markup of search results -- in 2009 and has been adding the types of support markup ever since. In 2011, in conjunction with Microsoft and Yahoo, they launched schema.org, which expanded the types of markup available, although not every type of results is in the enhanced display (yet). Implementing structured data that r [...]

Google Webmaster Tools Adds Structured Data Dashboard & CNAME Verification

Aug 2, 2012 at 9:11am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google added two features to Google Webmaster Tools this week; a structured data dashboard and CNAME record verification. Structured Data Dashboard Structured data is a big part of Google's search results and discovery process and to make it easier for webmasters to understand what structured data Google has indexed from your web site, Google introduced a new section under the "Optimization" section of Google Webmaster Tools named "Structured Data." Structured data will show you all the rich snippets markup and other structured data markups Google discovered for your site. Google breaks d [...]

Can Retailers Benefit From The Knowledge Graph & Schema? You Bet!

Jun 8, 2012 at 12:27pm ET by Barbara Starr

The Knowledge Graph is the latest in a series of efforts in which Google has adopted technology from the semantic web aka the "Giant Global Graph" envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee. For those retailers who haven't yet adopted schema.org microdata, Good Relations RDFa and other structured markup on their product pages, now is the time to take advantage of the newly implemented Knowledge Graph technology. [caption id="attachment_124036" align="alignright" width="300"] Image from Shutterstock, by drserg, used under license[/caption] Will Google’s Knowledge Graph have an effect on retail? Abso [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

New: Google Rich Snippet Tool Allows HTML Input & Product Snippets Go Global

Apr 17, 2012 at 8:49am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google announced two updates to their rich snippets features yesterday. HTML Input For Rich Snippet Testing Tool: The first is they have added to the rich snippets testing a way to input your HTML and test the HTML before you make the HTML live. In the past, you always had to upload your changes and then run the testing tool. Now, you can take your HTML and paste it into the tool and Google will output the results of the rich snippets. Product Rich Snippets Now Global: Second, Google's product rich snippets is now available globally. No matter where you search, if the results have the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Rich Snippets | Google: SEO | Schema.org

Google Becomes Answer Engine With Semantic Technology − Great News For Retailers

Apr 12, 2012 at 2:31pm ET by Paul Bruemmer

Google has been displaying more than blue links in search results for a while now. And soon, users will be able to find more facts and direct answers to their queries on top of search results. This comes from the Wall Street Journal, which reported on an interview with Amit Singhal, a top Google search executive. Evidently, Google plans to provide more relevant results by "incorporating semantic search technology, the process of understanding the actual meaning of words." Search Engine Land author and Ontologica semantic services provider Barbara Starr said, "It’s inevitable that lo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Google Recommending New Video Schema.org Markup

Feb 22, 2012 at 10:13am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google announced on the Google Webmaster Central blog that they are now adding video support for schema.org. They are doing this in combination with Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Search as a "joint effort." Google says using the schema.org video markup is the "recommended way to describe videos on the web." Google added that they still recommend you continue with your other video XML formats, such as Video Sitemaps and mRSS feeds, if you use them. The new schema.org video markup won't impact the Video Sitemaps and mRSS feeds. The technical details on video markup can be found on schema.org an [...]

How To Get A 30% Increase In CTR With Structured Markup

Dec 29, 2011 at 10:37am ET by Paul Bruemmer

As documented by case studies in the U.S. and abroad, retail firms can get up to a 30 percent increase in organic traffic by using structured markup like Schema Microdata, GoodRelations and Google Rich Snippets, etc. This begs the question: why aren’t more retailers using structured markup? Implementing structured data requires the skill of adding a few extra lines to the HTML code of your site. Once implemented, you will immediately feed Google and hundreds of mobile and recommender applications with all the information consumers are looking for when they shop for your products. Your det [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

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