PNWDS: The SEO Magic of Structured Data

Search engines have evolved. Results are no longer a simple list of links. Run a query and you'll get a wealth of related information in a variety of visual contexts. You’ll see easy to access, detailed contact and location information. Eye-catching recipes and product reviews. Aggregations of job listings that are easy to scan in an in-engine experience. Browsable discographies with artist details for music lovers. These kind of rich search results give users instant access to the most actionable and shareable content on your website, creating a positive user experience before they even visit your site.

What kind of dark arts are site owners using to create this detailed, rich information that spiders gobble up and use to create meaningful, easy to digest search results? How do businesses maximize their opportunity for this type of featured placement? The answers lie in structured data formats.

Attendees will leave this session with a basic understanding of what structured data is, what formats are available, and what types of structured data will benefit a site the most when it comes to SEO. We’ll also look at how to use these principles most efficiently within Drupal.

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=201-44S6138

Transcript

1. Creating SEO Magic Using Structured Data
2. About me • Long-time Austinite • Solutions Architect & Engineer • Started working with Drupal 10 years ago • Director of Engineering at Kanopi Studios
3. What we’ll cover • What is structured data • Why we use it • Structured data formats • Tools to use it in Drupal 8
4. What is Structured Data?
5. Meta information about content Can define a single element or a whole page
6. Semantic constructs Repeatable, machine-oriented structure that is core to the Semantic Web
7. Relates content categorically Standardized formats for defining information gives us apples-to-apples comparisons across sites.
8. Why we use it
9. Search engines love it
10. Schema.org Founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Yandex
11. Structured and Repeatable Makes it easy to understand, categorize, and weight content
12. When it Matters • Corporate Contact & Logo • Articles • Books • Courses • Events • Job Postings • Local Businesses • Music and Movies • Products • Recipes • Reviews • (and it’s always changing)
13. Search Engine Usage Some nifty Google show-and-tell
14. Featured Placement 36% of Google search results have schema data; but only 0.3% of sites use it.
 SearchMetrics Schema.org Analysis, 2014
15. Featured Placement • Enhanced search result listings • Placement in mobile and featured carousels • Knowledge Panel results • Immersive search experiences
16. Enhanced results Thumbnails, ratings, detailed information
17. Knowledge Graph/ Knowledge Panel Contact and social information
18. Mobile Carousels Carousels of grouped results
19. Immersive experiences Lead to qualified clicks and content engagement
20. Immersive experiences Lead to qualified clicks and content engagement
21. Schemas How to define All the Things
22. “Vocabulary” Lesson (Get it? No? You will.)
23. Vocabulary • Vocabularies (schema.org) • Schemas • Item (Thing) • Type • Property
24. Schema.org • Provides a wide variety of object definitions • Hierarchical schemas - property inheritance • Interlinking of objects • Can implement using any of these data formats
27. Structured Data Formats
28. Microdata
29. Microdata • Format initially used on Schema.org • HTML specification - attribute-based • Feels familiar for beginners
30. Microdata Example Sample of the Article Schema implemented with Microdata
31. RDFa
32. RDFa • Resource Description Framework in Attributes • More XML-Flavored - extension of HTML5 • Better than microdata for representing nested schema
33. RDFa Example Sample of the Article Schema implemented with RDFa
34. Markup-based Considerations • Adds attributes to your existing markup to define a Thing • Minimizes data redundancy • Keeps the schema definition with the data itself • Not the easiest thing to read at a glance for humans
35. JSON-LD
36. JSON-LD • JavaScript Object Notation - Linked Data • Injected into the document • Easy to read • Preferred by Google (especially with AMP) • Results in some data redundancy
37. JSON-LD Example Sample of the Article Schema implemented with JSON-LD
38. Did we do this right?!?
39. Google has the answer Google != schema.org
40. Structured Data Testing Tool http://bit.ly/2zown2u
41. So… what format do I use?
42. All of these are valid formats!
43. When in doubt, go JSON-LD (Unless Bing is your Thing)
44. Structured Data in Drupal 8
45. Use Metadata One of the most important things you can do for findability and sharability.
46. Schema.org Metatag Module
47. Schema.org Metatag Module • Extends the Metatag module • Provides Schema.org objects for a subset of schema • Provides architecture to extend the types of Things available
48. Supported Schema • Article • Organization • Person • VideoObject • Event • Product • Service • WebSite • WebPage • ItemList (for Views) • BreadcrumbList
49. In the Works • AggregateRating • Reviews • Recipes • Get involved - build your own!
50. You get out of it 
 what you put into it.
51. Conclusion • What is structured data • Why we use it • Structured data formats • How to use it in Drupal 8
52. Resources • Intro to Structured Data: http://bit.ly/2znKODU • JSON-LD Playground: http://bit.ly/2ytGq8J • Structured Data testing tool: http://bit.ly/2zown2u • Schema.org Full Hierarchy: http://bit.ly/2wV616o • Schema.org Metatag Module: http://bit.ly/2hG072s
53. Questions & Feedback • Here and now • katherine@kanopistudios.com • @katherinemwhite on Twitter