How To Use Schema To Claim a Spot in the SERP Features

Google’s SERP is constantly changing. 

Perhaps the biggest shakeup to the scene has been the introduction of SERP features. And as they continue to take up more and more real estate, marketers need to know how to land their content in these features. 

In this article, I’ll go over some of the ways that you can use schema markup to ensure eligibility for SERP features, as well as look at some basic optimization best practices. 

What We’ll Cover:

• What SERP Features are
• The benefits of SERP Features
• How to optimize your content for SERP Features
• How to add schema to your website
• How to use schema to inform specific SERP Features:
  • Knowledge Graph
  • Features Snippets
  • Job Postings
  • How-to’s
  • Quotes
  • Events
  • Local 3-Pack
  • Sitelinks
  • Images
  • Datasets
  • Podcasts
  • Carousel
  • Movie Carousel
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • Top Stories
  • AMP
  • Send to Google Home Assistant

Voice search is on the rise, structured data is taking over the SEO landscape, and 50% off all searches serve up zero-click results. Suffice to say, traditional SEO opportunities have all but disappeared. 

The latest algorithmic update, BERT was released just this month, marking the next phase in semantic web technology. Google is gaining a nuanced understanding of searchers’ queries and using SERP features to make it easy for users to quickly identify the information they’re looking for. 

Let’s dive in. 

What Are SERP Features?

As mentioned, Google continues to update search results to help its users identify the information they’re searching for—fast. 

To do this, Google delivers answers that go beyond a list of links, but with larger, more compelling features like Rich Snippets, Knowledge Panels, and Related Questions. 

SERP features span a wide range of results based on the query entered into the search box. 

While not all SERP features are enforced by structured data, marketers can apply schema to the following content types to help search engines better interpret your webpage content and as a result, improve your visibility. 

• How-Tos
• Local 3-Pack
• Rich Snippets
• Sitelinks
• Top Stories for News
• AMP
• Reviews
• Knowledge Panel
• Google for Jobs
• Recipes
• Carousel
• Podcast
• Quotes
• Events
• Datasets Search
• Movie Carousel
• Send to Google Home

Though Google claims that adding schema microdata to your website isn’t an official ranking signal, it does improve the chances that you’ll appear in the rich snippets, which results in higher click-through-rates. CTRs, of course, are a ranking signal that, when combined with other factors such as dwell time, bounce rates, and backlinks, do improve your rankings. 

Benefits of SERP Features and How to Use Schema

I’ve talked about schema a lot lately, so I’ll gloss over the basics quickly. Schema is a type of microdata used to provide more information to search engines about the contents of a webpage.  

Schema can also help marketers become eligible for “non-traditional” search results, which feature visual components like color, imagery, and encapsulated content, which capture searchers’ attention far more effectively than standard organic results. These results, known as SERP features, offer marketers a competitive advantage. According to Search Engine Land, implementing schema could increase a site’s CTR by up to 30%.

The downside of SERP features is, they may also be decreasing your brand’s organic CTRs, as Google is increasingly favoring no-click results that keep searchers from leaving the SERPs. 

While organic clicks are falling for top-performers and laggards alike, SEO success now hinges on taking up as much real estate as possible.

Just like Google Ads extensions, structured data brings more visibility to organic search results, thereby increasing click-throughs, impressions, and awareness. Certain content types–think movie times, near me map results, and recipes–allow users to get the information they need without having to visit a second location. 

Others like carousels, logos, top stories, and reviews help content stand out, encouraging searchers to take the next step and visit the website. 

How to Optimize Your Content for Featured SERPs

While structured data is essential to today’s SEO strategy, dominating search is about more than schema. 

As such, before we get into the business of using schema to inform the SERP features listed in the previous section, you’ll need to make sure that the content you’d like to promote is up to snuff. 

Keep in mind, a lot of what you’ll be doing here is typical SEO optimization stuff. For example, you’ll spend a lot of time focusing on making sure your content is high-quality (if you’re not sure what that means, refer to this guide to EAT).

A few things to think about:

• Target Long-Tail Keywords. Long-tail keywords allow you to move past the awkward keyword positioning of old and into a more conversational approach to content.
• Embrace the Question Keyword. According to Moz, 8% of search queries begin with the words “who, what, where, when, why, or how.” And while 8% may not sound like a whole lot, consider that Google processes two trillion searches a day. Additionally, answering questions is good for semantic search, as it provides the search engine with more information about searcher intent.
• Always Be Helping. These days, there’s no place for fluff on the front page. Make sure all content is relevant, useful, and gives readers the information they asked for.
• Format For Easy Scanning. Use your H2s and H3s, bold your most important information, and give answers to targeted questions their own line. 
  

How to Use Schema: Add Schema to Your Website

Whether you’d like to add structured markup to highlight recipes, podcasts, or your local business profile, you’ll need to understand how to apply that microdata to your site. If you’d like a detailed look at the process, I recommend reading this document from schema.org, though I’ll go over the bullet points here: 

• Choose the schema you’d like to use: Head over to schema.org to identify which markup you’d like to apply to your website. The full list can be found here and is broken up into a hierarchy of “types.” 

• Understand the difference between content types (think article, recipe, or podcast) and enhancements (features that can be applied to more than one content type like star reviews, sitelinks, or carousels). Google breaks it down here, in case you need a detailed explanation.
• Add markup manually (directions here) or use Google’s Structured Data Helper or a third-party generator. For certain content types (articles, local businesses, events, restaurants, books, movies, TV episodes, products, and software apps) you can add structured data via Google’s highlighter tool.

In this next section, we’ll go over how to add specific types of schema to inform SERP features. Let’s dive on in. 

Knowledge Graph

There’s no official schema.org markup for the Knowledge Graph, however, you can add several different types of markup to your site and external profiles to display exactly what you want people to see when they search for your brand.

As a quick point of reference, the Knowledge Graph is a SERP feature that compiles all facts, contact information, and other key details in a separate box to deliver a relevant answer in response to a search query. 

Here’s an example of what shows up inside Google’s knowledge graph:

There are a few things you can do to optimize for the Knowledge Graph. The first is by heading over to your Wikipedia page and optimizing for your target keywords. Google often pulls data directly from Wikipedia, so spending some time on your page can improve the chances that you’ll be featured in the Knowledge Graph.

Markup your contact information. Customize phone numbers, the logo and social media links through schema.org. 

If you have a local business, add your information to Google Maps. This includes images, products/services, business hours, your website, and of course, your location. The more schema the better.

Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are interactive, informative features that drive users direct, informative answers directly from the SERPs. Examples include the Answer Box, the Knowledge Panel (more below), as well as things like job postings and events that take the top spot. 

According to research from Ahrefs, content that includes the following words are more likely to appear in the snippet:

• Best
• Recipe
• Vs.
• Definition
• Make

Related questions represent another great opportunity to earn a spot at the top. You’re likely familiar with this feature, which appears under the heading, “people also ask” as a list of questions related to the searcher’s original query based on questions other users have asked Google. 

Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for landing this particular SERP feature. It’s worth mentioning that you need to include structured data even to be eligible for snippets, though Google is getting better at keeping users posted on rich result eligibility and performance then they have been in the past.

A few ways you can increase your chances at making a snippet appearance:

• Focus on answering questions (specifically those you could rank for) in a concise, yet thorough manner. Make sure that you write those keyword questions into your H2 headings so readers and bots can quickly scan through your content. 
• Follow structured data guidelines as closely as possible. Know that different content types— think articles vs. recipes— will come with a different set of requirements. 
• Always test your structured data before posting— Google’s free tool allows you to check your code for potential errors by adding a snippet or pasting in a URL. 
• Consistently monitor snippet performance using the Google Search Console report. Potential errors include a whole host of tiny details like invalid calorie counts, syntax errors, or accidentally including a negative number. 
• If Google has crawled your site and hasn’t turned up any errors, yet you don’t see your content, consider submitting a new sitemap to help out the bots. 
  

How to Use Schema: Job Postings

Why make prospective candidates search through hundreds of listings to find your job listing. Highlight job postings directly from the SERPs? Adding structured data makes your postings eligible to appear front and center when a searcher enters a relevant query. 

Job postings fall under a category known as enriched search types, which, as you might imagine, have their own set of guidelines you’ll need to follow. These include everything from including all required properties to ensuring that content is unique, relevant, and complete. 

Enriched search types include an immersive or interactive display showing jobs, events, or recipes (only), so searchers see something like the image pictured below when they enter specific keywords:

To upload your job posting, you’ll need to follow these steps outlined below:

• Make sure that the Googlebot can crawl any pages that contain job postings— you’ll want to make sure they’re not protected by a robots.txt file and that the site follows a clearly-defined navigation structure.
• Additionally, you’ll want to ensure that your hosting site can support frequent crawls.
• Double check you’ve followed the guidelines to a T.
• Add the structured data to the page. Start with the JobPosting property and from there, mark up the following: datePosted, description, Organization, jobLocation, title, and validThrough. Google also recommends adding things like baseSalary, locationType, applicantLocationRequirements, and more to give job searchers more details about what the position entails. 
• If the same posting is hosted on multiple URLs, use canonical URLs to let Google know which page is the original.
• Test and preview your handiwork before submitting. 
  

How-Tos

Users can use HowTo schema to tell Google that their content is instructional. HowTos walk users through a series of steps, as you’ll see in the “How to Tie a Tie” example below. 

Adding HowTo schema can be done in one of two ways:

1. Standard How-to 

Required properties include:

• Name—The title of your tutorial—keep it descriptive and keyword-rich for best results.  
• Steps–Choose from HowToStep (single step) or HowToSection (multiple solutions for completing a single step). Within each step, you’ll need to indicate whether it’s a HowToDirection or a HowToTip, and include the text that communicates the full instruction.
• You can enhance your How-to with markup for estimated cost, project duration, materials, and more. Google recommends adding as many of these “enhanced schema” as possible, as it gives visitors more context and will thereby be more useful to the right audience.

2. How-to rich result with images for each step.

In this case, you’ll also need to add the “recommended properties” associated with the standard HowTo. These include:

• Step—Same as above, except each step includes both text and an image.
• Image–Use URL or ImageObject markup. Images must be relevant to the content, be crawlable and indexable, and be in .jpg, .png, or .gif format.

The benefit of marking up HowTo content extends beyond increasing the chances that your page will appear as a rich result. Properly marked-up pages are automatically turned into Google Actions for the Google Assistant, which helps you increase your reach to even more users. 

Keep in mind, HowTo content has its own set of guidelines you’ll need to follow to ensure that your site is properly marked up. While most are pretty self-explanatory (i.e no violence, sexually-explicit content, or hate-speech) it’s still worth looking over before marking up your site.

Quote Schema

Anything you can attribute to an author, a news source, or even a fictional character can be marked up with Quotation schema. Adding this markup to your page is relatively simple, especially if you’re using a tool like Google’s Structured Markup Helper. However, you may be surprised to learn that different markups apply to different sources and content types. 

Fictional character quotes should be marked up with spokenByCharacter, while a pull quote from an abstract should be marked up with the abstract schema.

How to Use Schema: Event

If you host events of any kind–be it networking events, concerts, plays, and so on, you can mark them up for a chance to be featured front and center. 

According to Google, if you only have a few events on your site, you can add them by using the highlighter to save some time. For those running multiple events, you’ll need to follow the traditional process, per Google Structured Data Guidelines.

Required event markup:

• Location: Include the name of the venue and address.
• Name: Name of the event—include the complete title and anything interesting about the event—think headlining artists, notable speakers, or some other perk that will generate interest.
• Start date: The date and time in the local time zone. Do note that Google has some specific guidelines regarding date-tagging, so you’ll want to check that out over here.
  

Local 3-Pack

If you run a business that depends on local customers, ranking in the Local 3-Pack is a big deal. 

In the past, Google displayed the top seven local results when users entered a local query. Now, because so much of local search is done on mobile, Google shows just three results at a time to deliver a better experience for small screen searchers.

In the SERPs, Local Packs appear when a searcher types in location-based keywords (e.g. “dog hospitals in Los Angeles, CA ” or “late night coffee shop near me”). From there, users will see a list of the top three results, along with a map. Local businesses can markup reviews, contact details, hours of operation, and more. 

Before you add local specific markup, you’ll want to ensure that your website is properly optimized for local search. 

• Ensure you’ve added your site to local directories such as YP.com. TripAdvisor, and Yelp. 
• Optimize for mobile, voice, and local SEO.
• Register and optimize your Google My Business profile.

Keep in mind, you can’t specifically mark up your site for the local 3-pack. Instead, you’ll want to ensure you optimize for all things local search and apply all relevant markups to your site, so visitors can see exactly what you want them to see when they enter a relevant query.

Sitelinks 

Like the featured snippet, the Knowledge Panel, and the Local 3-Pack, landing in position zero with the sitelinks box doesn’t boil down to marking up a couple of elements and calling it a day. Several things must come together in order for your site to rank here. 

Typically, sitelinks show up when someone enters a query related to your brand name, domain, or a specific product.

While it’s not exactly difficult to rank for branded search terms, Sitelink eligibility depends on a few specifics. The full rundown can be found on the Google Developer site, but here are the key things to know:

• You’ll need to install a working search engine (yes, really) on your website
• Add the WebSite structured data to the homepage of your site.
• Specify one SearchAction for your website.
• Verify the data using Google’s testing tool.
• Verify your website’s search engine is implemented correctly by copying the markup code: WebSite.potentialAction.target URL, replacing {search_term_string} with a test query, then pasting that query in your browser. So, if your site is https://www.testsite.com and you’re testing “dog beds” as your query, you’ll want to try navigating to https://www.testsite.com/search/?q=dogbeds.
• If the query checks out, you’ll then need to use the rel= “canonical” tag to set a preferred canonical URL for your site’s homepage so Google can apply the right URL to your structured data.
  

How to Use Schema: Images

Google has long been saying that the future of search is visual, and with major improvements to Google Image search and the regular SERPs, it’s clear that search is becoming a more visual experience.

Google Images supports structured data for images, though that functionality only applies to images related to videos, products, or recipes. 

Each of these content types allows you to add image markup via URL or ImageObject and the key benefit of this type of structured data is that you’ll be eligible to appear in Image Search and the traditional SERPs.

Before you start adding schema to your images, make sure you select the right file for the job. 

• Use JPEG for larger photos or illustrations. This is the best way to get great results as far as clarity and vibrance are concerned, while keeping file size relatively small. 
• If you’d like to maintain background transparency, PNG is your best bet. background transparency;
• For icons and logos, use SVG, which allows you to resize and edit without the risk of quality loss. 

I dig into the topic of rich results in Google Image Search in another post if you’re interested in learning more about the specifics.

Datasets

Last year Google launched Dataset Search, a tool that aims to make it easier for journalists, academics, scientists, and others to find credible data to support their research. 

Structured data makes it easier for people to find datasets by adding more descriptive information to the pages that describe them.

According to the Google Developer Site, the following examples qualify as datasets:

• A collection of tables
• A CSV file or table that contains data
• Files that relate to neural networks or machine-learning training
• A collection of files containing data
• Images that capture data

Google is pretty flexible in how it defines data, ending their definition with “anything that looks like a dataset to you.” However, adding the Dataset schema to your dataset is slightly more complex than some of the other entries on this list. 

For example, Dataset providers must follow dataset guidelines, submit an updated sitemap, and include structured markup that signals the source and provenance of the data you want to highlight. 

These tags include “sameAs,” which indicates that the original data came from somewhere else, “Identifier,” which applies to digital objects with serial numbers or codes attached–think ISBNs or GTIN codes. 

Additionally, you’ll need to submit a summary between 50 and 5000 characters long and a name. Recommended properties include citations, keywords, creators, a license, and spatialCoverage, among others. Oh, and in case you were wondering what “spatialCoverage” represents, it’s a tag used to describe dataset with a spatial dimension.

How to Use Schema: Podcasts

Using structured data, you can expose your podcast to more listeners by appearing in the SERPs, on the Google Podcasts app, and even turn your show into a Google Action automatically, thanks to the recent release of Google Content Actions. 

To enable structured data for rich results, you’ll first need to make sure that your podcast is set up correctly–ensuring you’ve met RSS feed requirements and Homepage requirements. 

Structured data can be used to highlight things like episode names, descriptions, cover art, or whether your podcast contains explicit content. 

Carousel

Carousels are rich results shows as a gallery or sequential list. You’ll typically see this feature associated with news content, recipes, or restaurants, and often, the carousel features multiple items from a single site (aka the host carousel). 

Carousels are mobile-only and can be applied only to certain content types. Per the Google Developers blog, users can submit Carousel structured data in one of two ways:

• A single page list (which is only applicable for Recipes, Articles, Restaurants, Movies, and Courses). This option allows you to indicate an ItemList with multiple ListItems (each entry in the carousel). Do note that each ListItem can only have three properties.
• A summary page, followed by multiple full details pages. In this case, the summary page offers a short description of each item in the list, while the details pages get more specific about each entry and its associated markup. Here’s how the two compare:

Movie Carousel

This is a newer addition to the schema-based SERP feature lineup. Movie carousels should look pretty familiar to anyone who has tried to run a quick search for local movie times or pull up a Netflix recommendation.

With structured markup, you can provide details about movies including the poster art, title, and aggregate rating, to mobile users when they search for terms like “what to watch.”

I’ll mention this here since this is the example used on the Schema.org site, but if you’re marking up an entry for the movie, Avatar, you’d start with the Movie schema. 

Then, say, you wanted to add James Cameron as the director and make a note of his date of birth—you have James Cameron, a Person (item type), who is associated with the name and birthDate properties—these entities within an entity are called embedded items and exist independently, rather than being enhancements to the Movie item type.

Here’s what that looks like as microdata:

After all that, it’s worth pointing out that the only requirements for movie carousel eligibility is the title of the movie and an image to go with it—as well as following the carousel guidelines I just mentioned. Images can be marked up in the form of a crawlable, indexable URL or using ImageObject markup.

Recipes

Structured data allows you to markup recipe content for a shot at the rich results. Depending on how you structure your content, your page may be eligible for certain SERP features including nutritional info, reviews, and preparation times. Here’s a quick look at those options: 

• Search: Add recipe structured data to enable rich results for your content. To enable recipes for host-specific lists, you’ll need to use the itemList markup to indicate that this entry is part of a larger series.
• Guidance: Guidance markup enables the Google Assistant to walk users through a recipe via smart display or Google Home. 
• Carousel: Carousel structured data allows your recipe to appear in a series of rich results. You can add schema for logos, images, and other enhancements to draw more attention to your content. You’ll need to add the itemList structured data to enable this option.
• AMP: Follow AMP guidelines to provide fast-loading recipes for mobile users. This could come in handy for reaching searchers shopping for food. 

Properly marked up recipes also benefit from an auto-generated Content Action for the Google Assistant and a recipe badge for mobile image search results. Actions allow users to follow along with recipes through rich cards presented in the Google Assistant and find more of your content in the Google search directory. 

Like I mentioned up top regarding podcast markup, recipes are among the six content types that can be turned into an Action by simply by adding schema to your web content. 

How to Use Schema: Videos

Given that Google owns YouTube, it seems like a no-brainer that structured data also extends to the video platform. Users can mark up video content using the VideoObject schema to make it easier for searchers to find your content through Google search. 

As with any content, you’ll need to make sure that your video is optimized with keyword-rich titles, meta descriptions, hashtags, and thumbnails. Additionally, taking some time to improve your YouTube profile can help you improve the rankings of both your channel and individual videos. 

Once you’ve confirmed that your videos and profile are optimized and ready to go, add schema markup to the videos you’d like to appear as a SERP feature. 

You’ll start by adding VideoObject markup to the video and can add ItemList schema to markup video gallery pages. Additionally, you can use Clip structured data to feature video segments and present them as an ordered group of clips, part of an episode, series, or season. 

Reviews

Review snippets are a SERP feature that displays an excerpt from a review or rating from a website, along with an aggregate rating taken from several reviewers. Adding rating markup to your site allows Google to display a rich snippet that includes star ratings and feedback left by customers, employees, or critics.

Review snippets might appear in a knowledge graph or as part of the rich results, but either way, offer social proof to searchers before they visit your website to learn more.  

To optimize your site for review results, you’ll have a few different options. 

• Add a simple review.
• Embed the review into another schema.org type using the review property.
• Add rating markup to show star reviews.
• To add aggregate reviews, you’ll also need to provide an average rating so the rich snippet can display that information. 
• If you don’t want Google to highlight a negative review, you can omit a rating on an individual review, so long as it contains both the author’s name and the date it was published.

Keep in mind that different types of businesses/content have different markups for reviews. You can add review schema to the following types:

• How-tos
• Events
• Courses
• Movies
• Products
• Recipes
• Software Apps
• Local Businesses
• Books

If you have critic reviews you’d like to promote; you can embed critic reviews inside the LocalBusiness markup or highlight standalone reviews.

Review information must be about a specific item; it can’t be part of a listicle like “Top 10 Waterparks in the US.” Additionally, that content must be accessible to users on your website.

Top Stories

To be featured in Top Stories, you’ll first need to make sure you’re associated with Google News. If you haven’t registered with Google Publisher, you’ll need to submit your website information for review. 

Getting into Google News means you’ll need to publish informative, fact-checked articles regularly. Qualified content includes news articles, sports articles, and blog posts, and users can add schema for enhanced results depending on how you structure your page.

You’ll have two options when it comes to marking up your site. 

Follow the Article guidelines to apply non-AMP structured data. 

• Add the structured data to your page that best describes the content.
• Ensure Google can crawl your page.
• Test your structured data using the Structured Data Testing tool.

Non-AMP stories may appear as part of a carousel or in a rich result list with headlines and images.  

For mobile SERP features, you’ll want to follow the Schema Markup for AMP guidelines. 

• Follow AMP Project guidelines
• Make sure Google can crawl your page
• Add structured data to mark up your article

AMP articles have the benefit of fast load times, particularly for mobile, however, publishers have access to fewer enhanced features than they do on non-AMP content. 

AMP

AMP kind of bleeds into the last entry I mentioned, but it’s also a somewhat complex topic on its own and applies to more than just news content. The AMP Project offers these examples on GitHub for marking up AMP recipes, reviews, and videos. 

I’ve written about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) several times over the past year or so. Known for its stripped-down HTML and fast load times, AMP content benefits from optimized discovery and a user-friendly experience that Google claims keeps users engaged with your page. 

While there was initially some speculation regarding whether or not AMP was an SEO ranking factor, that’s not actually the case.

Still, an AMP-powered article or blog post with properly-applied structured markup can help you increase your visibility in the SERPs. AMP structured markup best practices include:

• Follow AMP on Search guidelines.
• Make sure your AMP content is linked to a canonical page
• Use Google’s AMP Test Tool to ensure your HTML file is valid. Invalid AMP files won’t be eligible for SERP features.
• Check that your robots.txt file doesn’t block your AMP page. Google recommends using robots meta tags, meta robots noindex, and block indexing instead.
• Again, if you plan on trying to rank for Top Stories or would like your AMP content to be featured alongside Google News content, you’ll need to become an approved publisher.
  

Send to Google Home Assistant

Finally, I’ll briefly touch on another newer addition to the SERP feature landscape— eligibility for the Google Assistant to read your content via smart speaker using Speakable structured data. This feature is still in beta, and as I mentioned in a piece a few months back, Speakable is only available to valid news sites. 

Google goes over eligibility requirements in more detail here, but the gist of it is, you need to be a reputable news source to “get in.” Add the structured data to your site by:

• Becoming a valid Google News Producer.
• Following structured data, content, technical, and webmaster guidelines.
• Adding the Speakable markup to your site with required properties: cssSelector and xPath.
• Testing and validating structured data.
• Submitting the results. During the onboarding process, Google says it may take up to five days to get approved. 

Wrapping Up How to Use Schema to Inform SERP Features

While the transition from keyword-centric SEO to this new ecosystem of markups and mobile 3-packs can be intimidating, SERP features present a valuable opportunity for brands to rank on the front page of Google–be it the local pack, podcasts, or one of the many zero-click results. 

Ultimately, much of this process boils down to your ability to follow directions and willingness to markup everything you can.