The SEO Magic of Structured Data

We’ve all seen Google results that feature detailed contact and location information, recipe details and reviews, browsable discographies and more when we’re looking for information. These kind of rich search results give users instant access to the most actionable and shareable content on your website, creating a great user experience before they even get to your site. What kind of dark arts are site owners using to create this kind of detailed, rich information that search engines gobble up and use to create meaningful, easy to digest search results for their audiences? The answer lies in structured data formats.

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

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 • How to use it in Drupal 8
4. What is Structured Data?
5. What is Structured Data? • Meta information that defines the content of your page • Can define a single element or a whole page • Highly repeatable, machine-oriented structure • Core element of the Semantic Web
6. Why we use it
7. Search engines love it
8. Search engines love it • Schema.org standard was founded by search companies (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Yandex) • Provides highly structured, repeatable information • Makes it easy to understand, categorize, and weight content • Schema.org != Google
9. When it Matters • Business identity • Articles • Courses • Events • Job Postings • Local Businesses • Music • Products • Recipes • (and it’s always changing)
10. Search Engine Usage
11. Featured Placement
12. Featured Placement • Enhanced search result listings • Placement in mobile and featured carousels • Knowledge Panel results • Immersive search experiences
13. Enhanced results Thumbnails, ratings, detailed information
16. Knowledge Graph/ Knowledge Panel Contact and social information
19. Mobile Carousels Carousels of grouped results
20. Immersive experiences Lead to qualified clicks and content engagement
23. Immersive experiences Lead to qualified clicks and content engagement
25. You get out of it 
 what you put into it.
26. Structured Data Formats
27. Schema.org
28. But first…
29. Vocabulary
30. Vocabulary • Vocabularies (schema.org) • Schemas • Item (Thing) • Type • Property
31. More Schema.org • Provides a wide variety of object definitions • Hierarchical schemas - property inheritance • Interlinking of objects • Can implement using any of these data formats
32. RDFa
33. RDFa • Resource Description Framework in Attributes • Adds attributes to your existing markup to define a Thing • Minimizes data redundancy • Keeps the schema definition with the data itself
34. RDFa Example Sample of the Article Schema implemented with RDFa
35. RDFa Considerations • Requires extra markup • Theme implementation complexity • Not very human-readable
36. Microdata
37. Microdata • A lot like RDFa. A whole lot. • Different attributes, different data model • Format initially used on Schema.org
38. Microdata Example Sample of the Article Schema implemented with Microdata
39. Microdata Considerations • Same structural bloat as RDFa • Still tricky to implement • Still not people-friendly
40. JSON-LD
41. JSON-LD • JavaScript Object Notation - Linked Data • Injected into the document • Does not affect page markup • Easy to read • Preferred by Google (especially with AMP) • Result in data redundancy
42. JSON-LD Example Sample of the Article Schema implemented with JSON-LD
43. Did we do this right?!?
44. Google has the answer
45. Structured Data Testing Tool http://bit.ly/2zown2u
46. So… what format do I use?
47. All of these are valid
48. When in doubt, go JSON-LD
49. Structured Data in Drupal 8
50. Use Metadata The most important thing you can do for findability and sharability.
51. Core RDF Module
52. Core RDF Module • Doesn’t validate with Google out of the box • Can’t really define your Type • Not much you can manipulate without writing code • Produces RDFa
53. Schema.org Metatag Module
54. Schema.org Metatag Module • Karen Stevenson, Lullabot • Extends the Metatag module • Provides Schema.org objects for a limited subset of types • Provides architecture to extend the types of Things available
55. Conclusion • What is structured data • Why we use it • Structured data formats • How to use it in Drupal 8
56. 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
57. Questions & Feedback • Here and now • katherine@kanopistudios.com • @katherinemwhite