What is Structured Data? A Complete SEO Guide for Beginners

In this article, I’ll explain what structured data is and why it’s so important for your Shopify store. I’ll also review the reasons why rich snippets are beneficial for your store when ranking in search results.

Lastly, we’ll cover how structured data can drive traffic which can lead to more customers.

Are you interested in any of the following benefits?

• Having an attractive listing with a colorful star rating
• Appearing more prominently in search results
• Building trust with potential customers
• Getting more clicks on search results
• Driving more traffic to your Shopify store
• Acquiring new customers that are unfamiliar with your brand
• Increasing sales on your Shopify store

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these, then stick around and we’ll explain the many benefits of structured data and how you can get structured data for your site.

What is Structured Data?

The phrase structured data sounds a lot more intimidating then it actually is. Basically, structured data is used to classify and categorize data on your website.

Structured data is created using a code language called JSON-ld.

By adding JSON-ld into your site, you can help search engines understand much more about your site’s content and the products you list on there.

So in summary, structured data is the standard formatting of page content on a website that is readable by search engines. 

Google crawls websites all the time, but sometimes it needs a little help understanding exactly what’s on your site. After-all, it’s just a robot.

By having JSON-ld code on your site, you’re site’s data will be neatly organized in a way that Google can read and understand.

Structured data is very important because the more Google understands about your site, the more likely it will create a rich snippet for your product listing (but more on this later).

If your product matches the search query, Google can also suggest your products more often in search results.

Lastly, the more your store appears in the search results, the more likely you are to get clicked!

The Bottomline: Structured data can dramatically increase your site’s click through rate by enabling Google to create rich snippets for your site. 

Structured Data is Like a Name Tag

Think of a simple name tag (the kind you write your name on with a marker). Structured data is kind of like that. Let me explain why.

After you wrote your name on this name tag, you would have something that looks like the following.

Name: Jane 

Basically you are assigning a description to the information you’re providing. Name would be the description and your name would be the information.

This is similar to how structured data works with the information you give it about your store. It takes all of the information about your products and formats each one in a format that Google can understand.

Structured data helps search engines such as Google make sense of everything listed on your store including company information, blog posts, reviews, etc. Keep in mind that this isn’t just limited to your products, but your entire website. 

Examples of Structured Data in Real Life

Here’s another example. Let’s suppose you have a Shopify store that sells awesome tea, but you don’t have structured data yet on your site.

When Google crawls your website, they’ll most likely understand you sell tea. But that’s it! The information they would be able to gather would be extremely limited.

Now, let’s suppose your site had structured data.

When Google crawls your site this time, they’ll immediately be able to filter through all of your available structured data.

Google would be able to gather much more information about the products listed on your store. It would understand the availability, number of reviews, average rating, colors, materials/ingredients used, and how many you have left in stock (to name a few).

Secondly, Google can decide to display a rich snippet for your products. This means that whenever your product shows up in search results, your product listing would stand out from the competition because it will have more information and take up more physical space.

What are rich snippets?

Rich snippets are an enhanced search result listing that show more information such as a colorful star rating, availability and number of reviews.

Some search results look super boring and don’t stand out at all. They are just plain text and don’t really catch your eye.

Rich snippets change the appearance of how your product listing will look in the search results.

Rich snippets make your product listing pop out in the search results!

They are attention grabbing because they are larger in size, contain more info (which can help with shoppers making a decision), and are more colorful than other search results being listed.

If you’re product had a five star rating, this would be a great way to showcase your great reviews. It would also be an idea way to show the products’ availability, color options, and so on.

Displaying a star rating and review count can also help to build trust in your potential customers and encourage them to click on your listing.

Another great benefit is that rich snippets aren’t just for products. They can also be used for services, recipes, and other types of sites.

Rich Snippets Drive Sales

Imagine your Shopify site has structured data and Google has created rich snippets for all of your product listings.

Your product listings would appear with eye-catch descriptions in the search results.

These eye-catching descriptions have a higher probability of getting clicked on because they are packed with valuable information.

The person might already have made up their mind to buy your product before they even clicked on it.

Since rich snippets provide more information than an ordinary search result, this helps people make their decision about whether or not to buy the product earlier in the

Rich snippets & Higher Ranking

By having a more attractive listing on search results, your site will have a higher likelihood to get clicked.

Even if your product listing is not at the top of search results, you can benefit if people decide to click on your site over the rest of the options. 

Eventually Google will notice that people are interested in your site, and this can have a positive benefit on your overall ranking.

The more times people decide to click on your site over the other options, your site can start to appear higher in search results.

Structured Data Boosts SEO

Having structured data on your Shopify site is a great way to boost your SEO and have better looking search results!

The entire point of having great SEO on your site is to be able to appear on search results so that you can get more traffic and customers.

By having your data properly categorized, search engines like Google are more likely to suggest your site in search results.

Most importantly, Google can create rich snippets for your site that stick out in search results.

If you don’t already have structured data for your Shopify site, it’s never too late to start now.

Best Structured Data App on Shopify

Are you looking for the best app on the Shopify app store that can give your site structured data? Well, look no further because we have the app for you.

Here at Adolab, we created the best SEO app for injecting structured data into your site.

It’s called Get Clicked! SEO.

 

 

Get Clicked! SEO creates customized structured data for your Shopify store using the most current schema markup.

We stay up to date with any rules and changes made to the standardized formatting (called JSON-ld) to ensure that your site’s structured data is in perfect order. 

This app featured one-click installation and automatically inserts structured data into your site. This structured data can then be crawled and indexed by Google (and other search engines). Search engines use this information in order to create attractive product listings called rich snippets.

If you want your products to start displaying rich snippets, Get Clicked! SEO can help! Install it today on the Shopify app marketplace.