About me
• Long-time Austinite
• Solutions Architect & Engineer
• Started working with Drupal 10 years ago
• Director of Engineering at Kanopi Studios
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
What we’ll cover
• What is structured data
• Why we use it
• Structured data formats
• How to use it in Drupal 8
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
What is Structured Data?
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
Meta information about content
Can define a single element or a whole page
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
Semantic Constructs
Repeatable, machine-oriented structure that is core to the Semantic Web
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
Why we use it
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
Search engines love it
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
Founded by Search Companies
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Yandex
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
Structured and Repeatable
Makes it easy to understand, categorize, and weight content
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
When it Matters
• Business identity
• Articles
• Courses
• Events
• Job Postings
• Local Businesses
• Music and Movies
• Products
• Recipes
• (and it’s always changing)
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
Search Engine Usage
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
Featured Placement
36% of Google search results have it; but only 0.3% of sites use it.
SearchMetrics Schema.org Analysis, 2014
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
Featured Placement
• Enhanced search result listings
• Placement in mobile and featured carousels
• Knowledge Panel results
• Immersive search experiences
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
Enhanced results
Thumbnails, ratings, detailed
information
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
No content
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
Knowledge Graph/
Knowledge Panel
Contact and social information
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
No content
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
Mobile Carousels
Carousels of grouped results
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
Immersive experiences
Lead to qualified clicks and content engagement
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
No content
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
Immersive experiences
Lead to qualified clicks and content engagement
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
Slide 31
Slide 31 text
Microdata
Slide 32
Slide 32 text
Microdata
• Format initially used on Schema.org
• HTML specification - attribute-based
• Feels familiar for beginners
Slide 33
Slide 33 text
Microdata Example
Sample of the Article Schema implemented with Microdata
Slide 34
Slide 34 text
RDFa
Slide 35
Slide 35 text
RDFa
• Resource Description Framework in Attributes
• More XML-Flavored - extension of HTML5
• Better than microdata for representing nested schema
Slide 36
Slide 36 text
RDFa Example
Sample of the Article Schema implemented with RDFa
Slide 37
Slide 37 text
Markup-based Considerations
• Adds attributes to your existing markup to define a Thing
• Minimizes data redundancy
• Keeps the schema definition with the data itself
Slide 38
Slide 38 text
JSON-LD
Slide 39
Slide 39 text
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
Slide 40
Slide 40 text
JSON-LD Example
Sample of the Article Schema implemented with JSON-LD
Slide 41
Slide 41 text
Did we do this right?!?
Slide 42
Slide 42 text
Google has the answer
Google != schema.org
Slide 43
Slide 43 text
Structured Data Testing Tool
http://bit.ly/2zown2u
Slide 44
Slide 44 text
So… what format do I use?
Slide 45
Slide 45 text
All of these are valid formats!
Slide 46
Slide 46 text
When in doubt, go JSON-LD
(Unless Bing is your Thing)
Slide 47
Slide 47 text
Structured Data in Drupal 8
Slide 48
Slide 48 text
Use Metadata
The most important thing you can do for findability and sharability.
Slide 49
Slide 49 text
Core RDF Module
Slide 50
Slide 50 text
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
Slide 51
Slide 51 text
Schema.org Metatag Module
Slide 52
Slide 52 text
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
Slide 53
Slide 53 text
Conclusion
• What is structured data
• Why we use it
• Structured data formats
• How to use it in Drupal 8
Slide 54
Slide 54 text
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
Slide 55
Slide 55 text
Questions & Feedback
• Here and now
• [email protected]
• @katherinemwhite on Twitter