Schema: Capitalize on Your Attention to Detail
You are constantly making connections.
Whether these connections are research, patient, or business based, you recognize the value of detail and the power in identifying causal relationships. One such relationship under review is the application of schema markup within a practice's website and the possibility of enhanced search engine listings as a result.
As search behavior and Internet marketing continue to evolve, a series of advantages make themselves available to thoughtful researchers.
Schema markup is the perfect example of an advantage that has not been widely adopted, but represents a significant upside. This post will help you understand the scope and urgency of this opportunity to reach more people in need of your unique services.
Schema and Rich Snippets Revisited
Our post Google & Disgruntled Patients: What is the Common Denominator? explains the reason for schema and the manner in which proper usage can enhance your practice's search results.
As we learned, the strategic addition of schema markup to your website has the potential to prompt significantly enhanced results that may even eclipse paid ads. See the example below and notice how the "snippet" expands when your potential patient clicks on the entry:
Schema Impact on Search Engine Ranking
A recent Searchmetrics study analyzed both the inclusion of schema-derived results delivered by Google, and the level of schema adoption within a study group of hundreds of thousands of domains.
The study produced some startling results and highlighted your opportunity. First, the study found that web pages with schema markup ranked better by "an average of four positions" in Google search results compared to pages without schema markup.
Put another way, websites utilizing schema markup earned SEO visibility scores that dwarfed those of their non-schema competitors.
Keep in mind that proper schema markup increases the likelihood that your search results will include additional information. Therefore, you stand to not only show up higher in search results, but also with more compelling content than your non-schema competitors.
Your Competitor is Probably Missing the Opportunity
Schema is relatively old in the fast-paced world of Internet marketing, with Schema.org's major search engine collaboration announced in the middle of 2011. Just three years later Searchmetrics reported that 37% of Google search results included schema-derived markups.
You may expect that businesses would have picked up on the value of schema by now, but Searchmetrics' study revealed that less than 1% of websites utilize schema-derived markup.
These two stats highlight the opportunity you may be missing out on if you are not strategically integrating schema markup into your website.
First, Do No Harm
Now that you are aware of this opportunity you can take action.
However, notice that we mentioned the "strategic" use of schema markup integrations:
At Google, our first priority is to help our users find relevant, engaging answers for their search queries... In cases where we see structured data that does not comply with our standards, we reserve the right to take manual action in order to maintain a high-quality search experience for our users.
Google has provided fair notice to all web developers; misuse of schema markup may result in penalties. It is important to deploy a professional who has extensive experience working with Google's webmaster guidelines and who can demonstrate actual client results.
Feel free to reach out for more information by filling out the form at the bottom of this page. One of our professional consultants can help answer your questions.
