Adding schema markup to your website is one of the most effective ways to communicate with search engines. At the same time, it can be slightly complicated too. Since it involves a bit of code, the process is logical and manageable to some people but not to all people. If you are familiar with the technical side of web development, you may follow these eight steps to transform how your website appears in search results, making your listings more informative and visually appealing to potential visitors. Otherwise, you may need some help from your web developer to do it for you.
Pick your highest value content. You don’t need to add schema to every single page on your site at once. Start with the pages that bring in the most business or traffic. For example, if you are a food blogger, focus on your top five most popular recipes. If you own a local shop, start with your homepage and your main service pages. By prioritising content that already performs well, you’ll see the biggest impact from your efforts.
Choose a Reliable Generator Tool. Writing code from scratch is unnecessary and prone to errors. Instead, use a dedicated schema generator. Tools like the Merkle Schema Markup Generator or TechnicalSEO.com allow you to select the type of content you have, such as an "Article," "Local Business," or "Product", and provide a simple form for you to fill out. These tools do the heavy lifting by turning your plain text into the specific code format search engines need.
Fill in the details accurately. As you use the generator, ensure every piece of information matches exactly what is visible on your website. If your page lists a product for $29.99, but your schema code says $25.00, search engines may flag this as a discrepancy. Consistency builds trust with Google. Be thorough with details like opening hours for a business or the specific ingredients in a recipe. This accuracy is what eventually creates a high-quality search result.
Select the JSON-LD format. When the generator asks which format you want, always choose JSON-LD. This is the industry standard and the version Google officially recommends. JSON-LD is "clean" because it lives in a small block of code in the background, separate from the text your visitors see. It’s less likely to break your website’s design and is much easier for search engines to read.
