As a business owner of any size, you know the importance of being found online, and especially of being on the first page of search results. How to get there, however, may be a mystery and feel more like a pipe dream than an attainable reality.
To truly maximize the reach of your business through your website, one of the most impactful things you can do to rank on page one of search engine results pages (SERP) and improve your click-through rate (CTR) is by getting your website into featured search results.
While you may think landing your website in featured search results is a matter of the luck of the draw or something you just hope and pray for, you can actually utilize a search engine optimization strategy to accomplish that goal. Most featured search results you see today are created by implementing structured data onto your website.
Structured Data
Structured data is a machine-readable code that search engines use to better understand the content of your website. When you use structured data correctly, your website will be more likely to appear in featured search results as markup or featured snippets.
Three of the most common types of structured data are:
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Schema.org
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OG (opengraph) – Facebook’s structured data
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Twitter cards – Twitter’s structured data
When seeking recognition in Featured Search Results, Schema.org markup is your website’s best bet for success. This is because schema actively tells the search engine what your content means, not simply what it says. Simply put, websites that utilize Schema.org will have more potential to rank at the top of page one, as a Featured Snippet.
How Do I Utilize Schema to Get Into Featured Snippet Search Results?
Achieving featured search results will ultimately help you improve your ranking and your click-through rate, but how do you get there?
FAQ Schema
The most common method is to publish FAQs (frequently asked questions) in your content. Once you have FAQs in your copy, you can add them to a FAQPage Schema implementation. They need to be added word-for-word the same as you added them to your copy, and if you do this you will have a chance of your FAQ being listed in featured snippet results.
Use Subheading and <p>
Also, FAQs should be subheadings, and answers to the FAQs should be written in <p> tag HTML elements to have the best chance of being featured.
Works on More Than FAQ Pages
FAQPage Schema does not have to be part of a FAQ page. FAQPage Schema can be added to any question and answer in your copy.
How Do I Add Schema Markup to my Website?
Adding schema to your website can be a tedious task. Your success with implementing schema is dependent on the system you use to manage it, and the amount of control you want over the process.
Structured Data WP Plugins
If you are using WordPress or another content management system, schema can be added with plugins or third-party connections.
Schema Generators
You can also add schema by manually adding the code after using an online Schema generator to create it. No matter the method, we highly recommend you integrate appropriate structured data into your website.
If you installing the snippets of code yourself, be sure you add the appropriate snippets to the appropriate pages. There is no need to add your FAQPage Schema to pages without FAQs that are included in the Schema. However, it is ok to add some snippets globally to all pages. An example of Schema you would want to add globally to all pages would be your Organization Schema.
Where does the code go?
So you used a generator, and now you have a snippet of JSON-LD or Microdata to add. Where do you add it? Structured data can be added to the <head>, <body>, or <footer> section of your HTML documents in almost all cases. Adding it to the footer can shave a tiny fraction of a second from your page load time, so you may prefer that option.
Contact Caledon
If you want to dominate the top of page one SERP and improve your CTR, landing in featured snippets’ search results greatly helps to accomplish this. Our team of SEO strategists can help implement all types of structured data to help you mark up your website’s content.
Contact us for help placing your website in featured snippets’ results.