Schema - Post ID 282009

User 2903050 Photo


Registered User
260 posts

Hi everyone, has anyone tackled the new schema attributes? Tried one time on a review for my business but no luck?
Cheers.
User 379556 Photo


Registered User
1,533 posts

I too am keen to learn more about this, and am currently looking for the simplest information I can find. There is, of course, some information in the SD V3 Guide.

This series seems to start with the very basics, and I find that the use by SD V3 of JSON-LD puts a script in the header of the page with all the markup for the page. That cleared the first hurdle for me, as I had wondered (having been scared off by itemscopes and itemprops etc.) how many elements in the page needed to have structured data added to them.

I'm wondering what the reference to 'no luck' in the previous post may mean. Were perhaps the tags being looked for in the individual elements rather than in the header, or didn't it have the hoped-for effect in increasing views of the site? I guess Phil has got it sorted by now, but it may be useful if he or others post here information they have discovered useful in connection with using Schema in SD V3.

Frank
User 122279 Photo


Senior Advisor
14,447 posts

Since Phil's site is fairly new, he can't expect the schema data having lead to much increased views of it yet. It takes time to get established 'out there'.

I will read the page you posted, Frank, as I haven't got particlularly far into the itemprops and itemscopes yet either. ;)
Ha en riktig god dag!
Inger, Norway

My work in progress:
Components for Site Designer and the HTML Editor: https://mock-up.coffeecup.com


User 2450707 Photo


Registered User
94 posts

Phil,

I have not checked this on your site, but you can! :)

If you wish to use schema for a review, the review needs to be in the copy of your page, or on another page on your site.
If it is on another page or different property (such as your GMB listing), the url has to be in your schema markup.
There is no real value in having only one review.
You need to have quite a few reviews for each product or service.
(I have read 'quite a few' means a minimum of either 7 or 12.)

Then you can use Schema Review Markup and include the aggregate marking of all the reviews on your page or site as say 5 out of 5 stars.

The benefit you can expect from this is when people search for your keyword, your site appears in the search page with 5 stars under the title. This can increase CTR for your listing.
I have done it and the stars appear sometimes.

Other benefits from other types of schema:
You can have breadcrumbs listed showing a summary of your pages or products as a little 'menu of links' under your title. You can also go for Schema for Products as 3 or 4 discrete url links under your listing.

I have implemented this and my products appear under my listing making my result take up an extra line of space in Google search listing pages.

Implementing JSON-LD Schema is the most straight forward type.
There are free tools online to help you create and test the code.

Then, when your page is published, use Google's tester to check for errors as Google seems to allow and disallow elements that may differ from how others interpret the standards. You should have no errors using Google's checker to make sure Google will pay attention to your Schema markup.

Remember that text you highlight in the schema needs to be congruent with copy visible on your page.
I found that schema can be placed as a script within the Head or Body part of a page. If you have several products on one page, it helps for editing in the future if you place each schema script under the H2 Heading of each product.

If you know all of this already, this post may help others who see it. ;)

Best wishes,

Daniel
User 2903050 Photo


Registered User
260 posts

Thank you Daniel. That is very helpful. Where I am getting stuck with my local business is that its a service and not reviews for products. So I am trying to add schema for the reviews of my driving lessons. Also with the aggregate score, I do not have scores on my website but scores from Facebook and Google reviews. Can these be implemented if they are the same on my website? Regards Phil
User 2450707 Photo


Registered User
94 posts

Hi Phil,
Yes they can be used.
(Like you, my products are services with names!)
You could have, for example,
Product 101: Term of 10 driving lessons for a beginner Price 400.00
Product 102: Half-term of 5 driving lessons for a beginner Price 275.00
Product 103: Term of 5 driving lessons for pre-test candidates Price 275.00
Product 104: Occasional, once-off, driving lessons for the nervous, out of practice, driver Price 60.00 each
Product 105: 1 Day Advanced driving lessons for members of the police force and professional security drivers Price 975.00
Marketing tip: The most expensive item makes your most popular item look more affordable ;)
All your reviews need to apply to one of these for now. Collect reviews for each product over time.

On your page, under your H2 heading for each product, place your Schema for the Product.
If you have reviews, place your Schema for Reviews there also, but under your most popular product.
Each JSON-LD Schema starts with a <script> so will not print out to your HTML page, but the search engines will see it.
If your Schema has no errors, and what the search engine spiders read matches what is on your page, all is good. It will not be ignored.

There are a few ways:
1. Leave the Facebook Reviews on Facebook and connect with them with a url pointing to them in the Review Schema.
2. Likewise with Google reviews.

3. However, what I did is copy the last 5 Google reviews onto my web page.
I found jquery code to do that. I could edit the CSS code to make them appear 'my way'.

I typed the Facebook reviews manually onto the page.
I copied reviews from my Testimonial page onto the products page.
Aggregated the count of all reviews in Review Schema.

The Stars show up in SERPS.

Another thing you can do with the Facebook reviews is create an offer advert in Facebook and promote it.
Your stars will appear with it...
and while your promotion is running, if your Facebook page is indexed on Google, your FB review count will appear as stars on Google SERPS i.e. your Facebook promotion will appear in search results on Google, in free organic listings, for FREE!
This stops when your promotion stops. So keep it going for a $1 a day! :) (You would be lucky to see these on page 1, but perhaps on page 2 or page 3 of SERPS)

Caution, last quarter ad costs on FB are very expensive - stand aside and let the affiliates and seasonal promoters for holiday sales burn their cash. After the New Year, prices fall back again.

Best wishes,

Daniel
User 2903050 Photo


Registered User
260 posts

Thank you Daniel. I have facebook and Google reviews. What I don't understand how to do is using SD3 to add the schema for reviews. For names and address same as there is Fields where you can add the content, but for reviews there is not?
Also I have schema just for my contact page, business, address? Do you have to add to every page?
User 2450707 Photo


Registered User
94 posts

Hi Phil,
JSON-LD is now preferred by Google.

Use a tool to generate the JSON-LD, for example:
http://microdatagenerator.com

As yet, there is no 'driving school' so you will have to stay with the default 'local business'.
When all the details are filled in, you will have code that starts with:
<script type="application/ld+json">{
etc....
} <script>

This will be the JSON-LD script to go on your home page.
It will contain your Name, Address, Phone number, Website url, SameAs (Social Media accounts' urls)
All these details should match your details on a) your website and b) your GMB listing.

Your home page distributes 'link juice' to your other pages by links in your NAV menu and other hyperlinks in your body text. So there is no need to place this script on all your pages.
However, I would also place this one on About and Contact Us pages.

The script for each of your products should only be on your product's page(s).
Note product pages are a strong component of mobile search results. You may not see them much on desktop results.

There are many scripts you can use. But only use them if they relate to the content on your page.

The 'local business' script is useful to gain extra traction on Google Maps Three-pack at the top of search results pages.
Another important script to use on your home page is Organization. this can get you extra traction in organic search results, especially if anyone searches for your brand or company name.

Here is a place to get started:
http://microdatagenerator.com/getStarted.html

and this article might help give you more ideas for your own case:
https://www.drivingschool.marketing/why … local-seo/

To place these scripts on your page in SD3, paste them into a HTML element at the place you wish them to appear i.e. under a H2 heading. I discourage placing them in the Footer as that makes them site-wide and not always a good idea.

Go get the business!

Best wishes,

Daniel
User 2903050 Photo


Registered User
260 posts

Thank you for your help Daniel, getting to grips with it and using the structured data component in SD3 which uses JSON-LD.
For the reviews, how many do I put for the review count? Do I add the 17 from Facebook and 4 from Google as 21 that all have 5 stars even though they are not all on my website indiviually or do I put down the 40 reviews that I have received and manually put on my website that have no scores/stars?
User 2450707 Photo


Registered User
94 posts

Distinguish between reviews, testimonials and recommendations.
You can only count the star ratings. So only put the reviews with star ratings on your products page, and average out the stars to get the aggregate count. (No maths needed if they are all 5 stars!)
Place the others, which do not have a star rating, on your Testimonials page, or under a Testimonials heading.

Yes I would place (copy) the 4 from Google and 17 from Facebook on your page.
It is the easiest way to implement it when you are starting out (especially if your site and other properties are not old enough with good authority ranking and cross-linking). Or, if you feel you can, insert the urls in the Review Schema to tell Google where your reviews are. This way may involve manual editing of the Schema script, which is allowed, but might be written over if re-saving in SD3.

For me, it is normal to get the pages ready in SD3 and soon after it is published, so much tweaking of the code takes place (especially with Og metadata, personalising Schema, inlining CSS for above the fold, amalgamating CSS files and jscripts files and resolving HTML errors) that I would no longer edit pages in SD3, but in a HTML editor such as Dreamweaver. However I would make additional pages in SD3 when I wish to add new pages.

Best wishes,

Daniel


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