- What Is Structured Data?
- The Advantages of Structured Data for E-Commerce Websites
- The Most Important Structured Data for E-Commerce Websites
- Example of E-Commerce Structured Data
- Conclusion
As of 2023, there are an estimated 26.5 million e-commerce websites globally (almost 15 million in the United States alone). Direct-to-consumer channels are vital for most businesses looking to capture market share, so it shouldn’t be surprising, but gaining traction can be a hurdle. So you’re probably wondering how to compete on the search engine results page (SERP), and rightfully so.
There are many ways to make your e-commerce website stand out, like brand appeal or social ethos, but nothing beats the impact of structured data on performance. Below, we’ll dive into the advantages of structured data for e-commerce websites, but first, let’s define this mysterious code.
What Is Structured Data?
Structured data is standardized code placed on individual pages to help crawlers better understand web pages and enhance the SERP. You may also hear structured data called rich snippets, schema markup, schema, or JSON tags.
Google supports structured data in a few formats:
- JSON-LD (this is their preferred format)
- Microdata
- RDFa.
Bing also supports structured data in:
- JSON-LD
- MicrodataRDFa
- Open Graph
Now that we know what structured data is let’s get into some of the benefits of using it on your e-commerce site.
The Advantages of Structured Data for E-Commerce Websites
Increased Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
Let’s say a user is preparing to run their first marathon and is looking for running shoes. They may search “marathon running shoes” to discover their options, only to find thousands of results. How do they determine which result to click on? Thanks to structured data, they can get important information before clicking on the results.
Let’s look at an example from one of the most popular brands in running—Brooks.
Brooks uses structured data to show their average rating of 4.7, the price range for their shoes, and delivery and return information. The user gets all this information before they click, which is important because clicks can lead to conversions.
Improved SERP Visibility
When looking for a product on a search engine such as Google, how do they decide which result to click on? Structured data effectively shows users a snapshot of information right in the SERP via rich results.
Leverage details relevant to the buyer, such as the product’s average rating, price/range, return policy, in-stock or out-of-stock status, and more.
Competitive Advantage
Structured data can easily be overlooked by e-commerce websites, making it a great opportunity to differentiate your brand. Using structured data can make your pages stand out in the SERP and be more click-worthy. By incorporating structured data into your e-commerce pages, you’re gaining a competitive advantage over every e-commerce website that doesn’t use structured data.
AI Overviews Optimization
Google is changing SEO with the introduction of AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience or SGE). AI Overviews is a generative AI feature that allows users to ask questions. Google will then generate what it believes are the most relevant results, including product listings.
AI Overviews can take up significant space in the SERP, so your e-commerce pages must be optimized appropriately. Structured data is a great way to optimize e-commerce pages since Google has stated, “SGE is built on Google’s Shopping Graph.”
Adding structured data to your e-commerce pages helps Google and other search engines better understand what you’re selling.
Enhanced User Experience
Structured data positively impacts user experience because it improves SERP visibility. Although Google’s SERP has moved to infinite scrolling, it’s still true that almost 70 percent of clicks go to the first three results on Google.
Structured data can help your e-commerce site stand out among those top results by providing valuable information at a glance, making your result more click-worthy.
The Most Important Structured Data for E-Commerce Websites
While you could argue that all structured data is important, some are more important for e-commerce sites than others. Below are some of the most significant sources.
Product Schema
Since you’re selling products online, no structured data is more important than product schema. This structured data type allows you to add crucial information such as your product name, price (or price range), product image, description, currency type, and more.
By adding product schema to your web pages, crawlers can better understand what you’re selling and produce rich results in the SERP.
Aggregate Rating Schema
Rating structured data allows the SERP to display a product’s average rating. Brooks’ result for marathon shoes shows this in practice.
Including product ratings in the SERP can make your products stand out and build trust with potential customers.
Shipping and Returns Schema
Customers want to know roughly how long it will take to receive a product and whether they can return it if they don’t like it.
Using structured data to display shipping and return information tells potential customers they can purchase confidently.
Breadcrumb Schema
Breadcrumbs show a website’s page hierarchy. This can allow users to see the pages (or the “crumbs”) that lead to the page they will click or have already clicked.
Breadcrumb structured data allows search engines to highlight the categories of your pages instead of showing the “raw” URL.
This can improve user experience by making your website easier to navigate, increasing click-through rates, and helping crawlers better understand its structure.
Example of E-Commerce Structured Data
<html>
<head>
<title>Executive Anvil</title>
<script type=”application/ld+json”>
{
”@context”:”https://schema.org/”,
”@type”:”Product”,
”name”:”Executive Anvil”,
”description”: “Sleeker than ACME’s Classic Anvil, the Executive Anvil is perfect for the business traveler looking for something to drop from a height.”,
”Review”:{
”@type”:”Review”,
”reviewRating”: {
”@type”: “Rating”,
”ratingValue”: 4,
”bestRating”: 5
},
”author”: {
”@type”: “Person”,
”name”: “Fred Benson”
}
},
”aggregateRating”: {
”@type”: “AggregateRating”,
”ratingValue”: 4.4,
”reviewCount”: 89
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
Conclusion
Now that you know the advantages of structured data for e-commerce websites, it’s time to implement it. Adding structured data to your web pages can be easy or challenging, depending on your CMS, but you must do so properly to reap the benefits.
Take advantage of Logical Position’s national SEO services to ensure structured data is added to your pages correctly and produces results.
