Are you looking to take your search engine optimization efforts to the next level? If so, then you may want to look into schemas. Schemas allow you to explain to search engines what every item on your website relates to.
For example, you can create a schema to denote that “2081 Columbiana Road” is the address to your business. Can search engine figure that out by itself? Sure, but when it comes to things outside of your address or phone number, it becomes harder for search engines. Schema markup helps break it down for search engines, which could ultimately affect search results.
Not overwhelmed yet? Keep reading!

Where Does the Word “Schema” Come From?

When is comes to the word “schema,” the main use of the word comes from the world of psychology. Schema is very simply how a person structures the information from the world around them and puts it in an organizational format they understand. This seems highly useful, right?
If A happens and B normally happens after, then you tend to be conditioned to understand and structure it accordingly. While we all have this ability, search engines do not. This is where schema markup comes in handy!

Why Schemas Matter to Search Engines

Now why on Earth is this even useful to search engines? The information they receive from your site when it is marked up with schema helps them display it in a way that is meaningful to the searcher.
For example, let’s say you are looking for a chicken casserole recipe. In the search results, you’ll notice how some results contain information about cook time, calories, etc. – that’s schema! See the image below for an example.

Note in the example, it gives you the rating, the number of reviews, cook time, and the number of calories, plus an image and a description. That is all schema markup!
The person who created the recipe website used schemas to define each element in a way that search engines understood, which optimized their search results. What about the other chicken casserole recipes without this additional information? They didn’t use schemas!
As you can see, this helps tremendously! It helps the search engine understand the meaning behind words that have previously been just words. Once the markup is understood by the search engine, this helps the searcher find exactly what they are looking for.

The 3 Elements of Schemas – Advanced Section of this Article

Ready to dig even deeper? We have included a schema markup example below with technical details behind the markup. Note, this section is not for beginners.
This brings us to the three main elements that schema uses to help mark up your site: (1)itemscope, (2) itemtype, and (3)itemprop.

Itemscope

Like in the example below, is defining the scope of the item you are placing markup around. You see that it is nested in the first div – which defines a division or section within the html document – and the scope is throughout the whole div, which even includes the *nested divs.

Itemtype

Itemtype is where the specific type of item being defined is brought into the equation. As you see below, the first itemtype in the main div is defined as a professional service. This simply states everything contained within this div is helping define this professional service in more detail. The other itemtype is postal address in the *nested div a few lines below. This postal address itemtype is helping define the professional service in more detail by creating more information for search engines to reference.

Itemprop

Itemprop is the most specific detail schema allows for markup. Itemprop sets up the property of the itemtype and in essence adds definite meaning. Below, the itemprop=”name” is defining the name of the professional service as Uptick Marketing. Then the itemprop=”description” is defining the description of the professional service. Pretty easy to follow right?
Now we step into the *nested div section. This nested div has an itemprop=”address” because this whole nested div is defining the address of the professional service, which we just defined the name of as Uptick Marketing. Within this nested div, we get more specific and have item properties defining the itemtype we set as a postal address which is the street address, address locality, address region, and postal code.

See the schema example below:

(1)<div itemscope (2)itemtype=”https://schema.org/ProfessionalService“>

<h1><span (3)itemprop=”name”>Uptick Marketing</span></h1>

 <span (3)itemprop=”description”>The mission of Uptick Marketing is simple: to provide clients with strategic, results-focused digital marketing that generates more traffic, more leads, and more conversions.</span>

*<div (3)itemprop=”address” itemscope (2)itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>

<span (3)itemprop=”streetAddress”>2081 Columbiana Road Suite A</span>

<span (3)itemprop=”addressLocality”>Birmingham</span>,

<span (3)itemprop=”addressRegion”>AL</span>

<span (3)itemprop=”postalCode”>35501</span>

*</div>

Phone:<span (3)itemprop=”telephone”>205-271-8446</span>

(1)</div>

I’m sure you are wondering why the phone number was left out. The phone number isn’t included in the itemtype defined as postal address because the itemprop=”telephone” isn’t an acceptable property for a postal address. This all makes common sense when you look at it outside of the markup, and maybe not so much if you are looking at it within. You can also see the postal address itemtype division tag has been closed out (</div>) which states the postal address is no longer being marked up. Since this is the case, the itemprop=”telephone” is set as the property of the original itemtype we set, professional service, since the div tag has yet to be closed out.
When it comes to the itemprops that define the itemtypes, the itemtypes have a set of properties that are allowed. Like in the above example, itemprop=”telephone” cannot describe the postal address itemtype because a phone number isn’t part of an address. This is why we moved it outside of the closed nested div (</div>) and allowed it to be set as a property of the professional service itemtype.

Want Schema Markup on Your Website?

If you’re looking to take your search engine optimization efforts to the next level with schema markup, Uptick Marketing can help!
Contact us today for a meeting (local) or a call (out of town) and we would be happy to analyze your existing website and make recommendations for schema markups and implement them, improving the way your website appears in search results.