Small Business SEO Tips 2019 - Part 5 - Structured Data - Perhaps the best SEO is Structured Data - Forget the blue links. Google loves structured data.

Small Business SEO Tips 2019 - Part 5 - Structured Data

This is the 5th of a 5 part series on small business SEO best practices and tips in 2019, and how utilizing these can bring life to your online presence. These are generally referred to as Google Best Practices. And it’s what O2 Real does for clients, day in and day out.

Small Business SEO Tips 2019

In 2019 we take a look at;

Not real long ago, a Google search return page gave you a long list of blue links and nothing else. Then, when Google started paid adverting in search return pages,Google gave users 2 choices. Organic Returns and Paid Ads.

Search Engine Return Pages (SERP) have changed and continue to evolve.

Today, Many Google searches give users Rich Snippets, Enhanced Snippets, Event Listings and more/

How do you take advantage of these SERP features?

Small Business SEO Tips 2019 - Part 5 - Structured Data

Structured Data

A Structured Data SERP feature is any result on a search results page that isn’t a traditional organic result. The primary goal for SERP features is to give the searcher the most relevant information in a quick, easy to digest form. These structured data features stand out as well, so your information will be more visible to searchers.

In 2019 the organic listings have many more options such as;

Knowledge panels
Featured snippets
Quick answer box snippet
Rich snippets
Event listings
Image results
And more

All coded in the back end of your website using schema structured data coding.

Schema markups on the coding work for most every type of business for things like;

Local SEO (Service Areas)
Events (Like training events for instance, or book signings at your bookstore, or...)
Products
People
Recipes (Pretty sure you see these frequently in Google)
Reviews
And more

Small Business SEO Tips 2019 - Part 5 - Structured Data

The Snippet

One reason you might want to ditch your "free" DIY website is as simple as what shows beneath your link in the search returns. That is called the "snippet".

This is the real estate under your link to your website of 160 characters. If you don't set the meta description for you main website in the coding, Google takes random text from your website. This just doesn't work if you what to have your phone number there, or a special offer, or anything information that will drive clicks and traffic to your website.

With larger websites, google will show up to 6 of the most commonly visited pages as well.

At the end of the day, it comes down to control. For small business web pages, writing a good meta description snippet is like writing good ad copy — there's real value in crafting that copy to drive interest and clicks to your website. There's no absolute guarantee Google will use that copy (based on the parameters of the search), and that fact can be frustrating at times, but the odds are still very much in your favor that Google will display the information you told them to display.

Small Business SEO Tips 2019 - Part 5 - Structured Data

Rich Snippet

Rich snippets take different forms in the Google Search Returns. Here are a couple examples;

Enhanced Rich Snippet

Notice the last line of the snippet. See the date of the event in the lower left? And...clicking on the URL at the top takes you to an informational page. But if you click on "ESS Global Corporation" next to the date - you go to the secure sign up page for the event.

So in fact, there are two "listings" for two separate pages embedded in one search return. Thus can only be done by schema coding.

Here is another example of a rich snippet.

Featured Rich Snippet

See the enormous text? The feature image? Again, this is in the back end schema structured data markup coding in the website.

BUT YOU CAN'T EDIT CODE ON ANY DIY WEBSITE BUILDER

And coding for rich snippets really pisses off your competitors because a Rich Snippet Feature Listing is ALWAYS the very first listing (which also means it's the one read back on home speaker assistants like Google Home).

Like This One...

Event Listings

Book signing at the bookstore? New band at the bar? New play at the playhouse? Nearly every type of business has an event now and then.

Code it properly so that Google knows it's and event and...voila!

See the Event Listing for the Halloween party??? Schema Coding! From a search for "things to do for halloween in Spartanburg" on a phone.

Now...let's look at another type of snippet that instead of coding, Google pulls the info directly off your site...

Small Business SEO Tips 2019 - Part 5 - Structured Data

Answer Box

One benefit of content marketing is every time you post, not only do you add a URL for Google Indexing, you also add more information you website.

When you add information to your site, it increases your "authority score". In simple terms, this means a website with 100,000 words will rank higher than one with 10,000 words, which ranks higher than a website that has 1000 words.

The higher your authority score, the more likely you will show up in an "answer box".

Answer boxes show up in a fair number of Google searches, typically as "People Also Search For..." and then a few boxes appear. When you click on them, your answer appears with a link to their website...like this one.

Create content that matches the Google Answer Box, goes into more depth, and make sure it is using the correct markup.

Make sure your page’s SEO title and meta description tell the searcher you have even better information than the Google Answer Box to encourage them to click on your link below the answer. Also, make sure it includes the query the person would search to find the Google Answer Box.

This was simple. The prior answer was weak. We got a URL that answered the question. Wrote a better answer, marked it up in schema and voila!

There is one last thing.

You need to track everything you do. Who is seeing your posts? Where are they? Did they come from Facebook? Twitter? Google?

Don't just post, throw on some hashtags and hope for the best. By tracking post activity, you can see what is working and what is not working.

That information allows you to tailor future posts to keep what is working and fix what is not.

Without tracking, you are flying blind.

Here at O2 Real, we help small businesses from Texas to Florida to Virginia to California and everywhere in between, grow their business and become more profitable, by vastly increasing their presence online. and all the above examples are OUR clients.

Small Business SEO Tips 2019 – Part 5 – Structured Data