{"id":34675,"date":"2022-04-19T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/?post_type=resource&p=34675"},"modified":"2025-03-12T14:16:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T19:16:44","slug":"schema-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/resources\/schema-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Adding Schema Markup with WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The way your website appears in search results certainly influences how many and what types of visitors you receive. Consequently, it\u2019s important to seek out ways to enhance how your site is represented by search engines<\/a> to drive more high-quality traffic your way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schema markup can help search engines determine how to index your content accurately. This can help prevent your site from ending up on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for irrelevant searches. In this way you can drive more high-quality traffic to your website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019ll explore what Schema is, how to implement it for your WordPress site, and what related resources are available to you. Let\u2019s dive in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

What is Schema Markup?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Think of Schema markup as your \u2018business card\u2019 for search engines. It provides context to your content to help crawlers determine what it\u2019s about. In the same way a business card tells potential clients your job title, Schema markup tells search engines what things are so they can be properly indexed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, say you reference a name like \u201cJon Snow\u201d in the text on your page. Schema markup tells search engines what this data means: is it the name of the post\u2019s Author<\/em> or a character in a television series? By clearly defining the structure of this data, you can present a more representative \u2018business card\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Schema metadata is displayed beneath your headlines on Google’s SERPs. This lets searchers know how your content can provide the information they\u2019re seeking. In the example above, Schema markup would help assure loyal readers of the writer Jon Snow that they\u2019re not about to click on a pop culture article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schema vocabulary, or contextual data structures embedded in your page, can be used within several different formats, including JSON-LD<\/a>, Microdata<\/a>, and RDFa<\/a>. We\u2019ll cover each in more detail later in this post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are the Benefits of Adding Schema Markup to Your WordPress Site?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you add Schema markup code to your WordPress site, you increase the accuracy with which search engines display your site. Take the Jon Snow example above\u2014Schema markup keeps your Game of Thrones<\/em> fansite from appearing in a search for new authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, you can leverage Schema to signify your organization\u2019s location. This strategy is especially helpful for brick-and-mortar businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another benefit of adding Schema markup is improving your site\u2019s chance of appearing in a rich snippet or Google knowledge panel. These are the \u201cfast facts\u201d that searchers see when using search engines, and they help increase site traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is Schema in website terms? It\u2019s a tool for driving conversions and pageviews\u2014and everyone should use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schema Markup for SEO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Schema can often be misconstrued as an element that helps boost your website\u2019s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). While it is true that Schema does optimize how your site appears on Google’s SERPs and how closely your content matches what was typed into the search engine, it does not inherently increase your rankings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, when users can see relevant contextual information about your website more clearly than others on the page, it may influence them to visit your website. You can use Schema markup to show features such as ratings, reviews, and related subpages all within the search engine results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Implementing<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Above we can see an example of the Fandango app on the App Store\/iTunes. It shows how many reviews the app has received, its rating, price, category, and on which devices (iOS) it is supported.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another example from a Bar-B-Q restaurant that hosts regular events:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Schema<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the website for Stubb\u2019s Bar-B-Q uses itemprop=\u201devent\u201d tags, when we search for \u201cevents stubbs\u201d we see a nice list of events, dates, and titles as the first search result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, while websites using Schema do not get preferential treatment by search engines, they might receive more attention from actual users. The additional data structure helps a user to easily see whether the information on the page will be relevant to what they need or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schema Markup Vocabulary Formats<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Schema vocabulary can be used to encode data within HTML frameworks. To get a better idea of how some of them work, we\u2019ll go over three in detail: JSON-LD, RFDa, and Microdata. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to standardize Schema vocabulary sets, teams from Google, Yahoo, and Bing came together to create consistency in their structure and terminology, and launched Schema.org<\/a>. It is a valuable resource and repository that documents these agreed-upon sets of terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means, regardless of which schema type or format you use to generate your markup, search engines will understand it. Below are multiple schema types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JSON-LD Schema<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Schema vocabulary is supported in several formats, JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data (JSON-LD) tends to be the most commonly used. In fact, Google explicitly recommends<\/a> the use of JSON-LD in their documentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JSON-LD is a way to embed Linked Data using strictly JSON as a script on your webpages. An example of this format can be found when searching for \u201chomemade apple pie recipe\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Comprehensive<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JSON-LD schema markup type is what enables all the useful metadata \u2013 the rating, number of reviews, cook time, and calorie count\u2014to appear in the search result. If you use the ‘View Page Source’<\/a> function on this recipe page, you can see the JSON-LD used to display this information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Implementing<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tags such as @type<\/em> inform us this is a Recipe<\/em>, and the author<\/em> tag tells us it\u2019s made by a @type<\/em> that is an Organization<\/em> named Land O\u2019 Lakes<\/em>. Further bits of data such as preparation time, calories, featured image, and rating are also assigned with tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JSON-LD Schema Generators<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It can be difficult for those unfamiliar with JSON, JavaScript, or HTML to learn how to create snippets containing the metadata they want to display. Fortunately, there are generator tools you can use to create the JSON-LD Schema snippets for your website. Below are some of the best resources for JSON-LD markup:<\/p>\n\n\n\n