5 Structured Data Tips For Your E-Commerce Site
The latest power-technique in boosting your SEO is now upon us – in the form of schema markup. This is one of the most underused tools in e-commerce right-now.
However, those websites that are using schema markup are benefiting from the royalty of high rankings on search engine result pages (SERPs).
Are you interested in having your e-commerce sat at the top of Google, soaking up all of them paying customers?
Read on as we have 5 juicy tips for how structured data can benefit your website!
By the end of this article, you will have the essential tips that you can implement today on your website.
Let’s look at what’s included in this post for you;
- Microdata
- Review markup
- Product availability
- Video
- Price attribute
- Final thoughts
1. Using microdata
What on earth is microdata?!
Don’t worry, by the end of this section, you will be impressing your work colleagues with your knowledge of microdata.
To simply describe it, microdata allows you to add Metadata within the body of a web page (without microdata, metadata must remain in the header of the page) and allows you to give Google more detail into what the content is.
Still a bit unsure how this works?
Okay, so if you have a header on a page <h2>Trainers</h2> this will be displayed on the page. However, the page has no idea what the string means (trainers). This is where microdata is your key-weapon to let Google know exactly what your content is.
Now, your content is a lot richer for results, inevitably allowing Google to display your content in rich snippets!
2. Add review and product markup
Review markup data is a proven technique to increase the click-through rate (CTR).
There is a simple psychology to the benefits of having positive reviews on your e-commerce site. Because the public wants to feel safe when departing with their hard earned cash.
So, by using review markup, you’re not only encouraging a click through to your website, but you’re also making the customer feel safer in buying your product. Inevitably leading to a sale!
Cha-ching!
Use product markup on product category pages
You will have undoubtedly seen a clothing brand’s item sat at the top of Google in the rich snippet. With enticing information about the product being displayed, also in the rich snippet.
How do I get my product showcased at the top of Google?
Easy, well, fingers crossed it should get you under Google’s spotlight and your product showcased to all them paying customers.
Okay, so the secret is, product markup. To put it simply, giving your products efficient schema markup will give them a golden opportunity of being displayed in Google’s rich snippet.
3. Product Availability Schema
Another piece of the puzzle to your e-commerce schema tips – product availability schema. Having this little snippet of information adds a lot of value to your products.
You want to avoid frustrating your potential customers. Therefore, showing them a product is either in-stock or not, is very useful. This allows customers to decide if they want to view your other products, without having to click on the out-of-stock item.
Check out the image below:
Having this snippet of data allows a user to avoid disappointment of potentially finding an “out of stock” product.
Providing great customer service before a user has even landed in your site.
4. Video Schema
Video is one of the top ways you can entice users to buy your products. According to Emarketer, over 70% of top e-commerce stores use product videos on their pages.
This is having a positive impact on growth of sales.
A study from Singlegrain shows that over 60% of customers will watch a product video before reading text.
Okay, so we now know that video marketing is powerful. The thing we need to do is to get our video displayed on SERPs.
Below is an example how to use J-SON (If you don’t understand this, pass it to a developer) to markup your video:
5. Use the price attribute
The pricing attribute is one of the most important schema markups you can use.
Why?
This will allow customers to compare prices without clicking on individual websites. Inevitably, giving a user an easier session when searching for their product.
Massive move for user experience (UX) by Google once again.
The image below shows how the price attribute is utilised:
Using this strategy is essential for gaining more traffic to your e-commerce store.
Another example is the image below:
The interesting one on this, is the rating markup used with the price.
Out of the four jackets, which one is a potential customer most likely to view first?
It will most likely be the blazer with a review. The power of just having them stars displayed with your product and price is immense.
Another killer tactic for your e-commerce store can be seen on the image below:
Did you notice the section (Was £45.00 Now £35.00)?
This is a brilliant way for increasing CTR to your ecommerce store.
Everybody likes to save money.
Showing a potential customer that you have a current sale in place, will definitely increase the likelihood of your page or post being clicked.
Final thoughts
There it is, 5 tips for structured data you can add to your e-commerce site today and start soaking up all that juicy traffic.
Once you start implementing these strategies, you should no-doubt see an improvement on CTR to your e-commerce store.