Useful Schema for SEO

Google maintains some good documentation on using Schema in SEO. However, it is not always clear when or how schema helps. It is also much less forgiving than HTML… if you get it wrong, Google will trip over and so will other parsers. For that reason, Google and Schema.org and other people maintain tools to helkp you validate your schema.

Writing the schema in the first place can be hard though! That’s one reason why inLinks automatically generates schema for you.

The ‘About’ tag from Schema.org

Helping Google understand what your page is talking about is the aim of the game in SEO at the minute. Entities and concepts are taking the role that keywords held for so long, and one prominent way in which this is being achieved is through schema markup- specifically the About tag.

Schema markup is structured data vocabulary which enables search engines to read your website easily, with the ‘About’ tag from schema.org holding an important role within the Resource Descriptive Framework in Attributes. Schema.org describes the About tag as a means of delineating ‘the subject matter of the content’. In other words, it is showing the topic authority of the page and connects keywords to metadata.

Does it affect core algorithms? 

Schema markup itself cannot exist without the act of finding the true subject matter of the content. After all, structured data is put in place for that very reason! The About tag can play a role in organizing the microdata as it shows the authority topics. Then you can start to worry about if Google truly understands what that authority matter really means, but luckily the sameAs tag can help with this.

The about tag does not directly affect rich snippets but may help rankings, and knowledge graphs. As far as we know, however, it makes no difference to the local SEO aspects of a page. While it’s not entirely clear if these directly affect your position in the SERPs on their own, using schema markup is a great addition to your SEO strategy. Recent research has suggested that only one-third of Google’s SERPs are using schema markup, making it a bit of a secret weapon.

About schema examples

Scheme.org gives this example of how to implement your own about schema:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Article",
  "name": "Apple announces iPhone SE",
  "description": "New iPhone announced at 11:30 in California.",
  "about": {
    "@type": "Event",
    "name": "Apple's March 21 Announcements"
  },
  "contentReferenceTime": "2016-03-21T11:30:00-07:00"
}
</script>

Is there an easier way to implement the about tag in schema markup?

Yes! Inlinks automatically generates schema markup for about, mention, and FAQ tags. It even delineates an exact meaning for Google based on its own knowledge graph using the sameAs tag.

All you have to you need to do is inject one line of code, provided by Inlinks, into your website. The schema markup is then added once you have assigned the right topics to each page (read more about that here) and, voila! You have a whole host of schema markups for search engines to read concerning the content of your page without you really having to think too much about it.

Here is an example.I have made the about tag bold:

<script type="application/ld+json"> {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://dixonjones.com/seo/seo-traps-in-wordpress/#ContentSchema",
"headline": "SEO Traps & WordPress",
"url": "https://dixonjones.com/seo/seo-traps-in-wordpress/",
"about": [
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Search_engine_optimization", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "WordPress", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "trap", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapping"}
],
"mentions": [
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Search Engine", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "website", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "blog", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Digital Marketing", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_marketing"},
   {"@type": "Organization", "name": "Google", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "print", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Marketing", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing"}
]
} </script>

Once you have assigned your pages to specific topics Inlinks will intuitively make this schema, meaning you won’t have to worry about implementing this yourself. And the best part is that this can be refreshed and added to as your site grows, to make your life as easy as possible.

Here you can also see how Inlinks uses the sameAs tag in tandem with the about tag to really clarify what this content is about. Essentially, we say the URL is about SEO which is the sameAs the wikipedia article for SEO. I have written a blog post on this tag which I recommend you read in order to really understand how these tags work together to tell Google what’s going on using authoritative data collections such as Wikipedia.

Try Inlinks for FREE to see how our auto-generated schema markup can help your SEO strategy.

 

The sameAs Schema Tag and how to use it  

SEOs can use the sameAs schema markup to help a search engine understand what a page is about. You can do this by pointing out a page with similar subject matter that you are confident the search engine DOES understand.  

The sameAs tag unambiguously indicates an item’s identity through connecting it to such sources as its corresponding Wikipedia pages, Wiki Entry, or official website. It essentially takes a ‘thing’ and gives it context by linking it to a trusted URL value formant. This then links the content to the information that exists on this authoritative page. In this way, we can create schema around a keyword and shift it into becoming an entity through pre-existing and authoritative data collections.  

By defining your own entities in this way, search engines can see the underlying structured data when crawling your page and have a better-defined understanding of what these entities entail. Google is becoming increasingly human every day, and the SameAs schema tag is a perfect example of this.

Does the sameAs schema affect rankings? 

The semantic markup of a website consists of adding structured data which enables a website to better describe its content. However, incorrectly implemented schema can result in a loss of rankings.

When done right, however, tagging your data with sameAs contributes to a variety of SEO fundamentals including rich snippets and local SEO panels. As Google knows what you are talking about, it feels much more confident in bringing you to the top of the ranking. It is not enough anymore to use keywords in isolation, and supplying the context in which your content exists is helpful in delivering a great user experience.  

Providing Google with structured data – and checking it with the Google Structured Data Testing Tool – means search engines can access your content’s true meaning. Webmasters can communicate most effectively with search engines in this fashion to encourage visibility. Although I have not seen this confirmed by Googlers to directly affect a page ranking, schema markup using the sameAs tag has the potential to indirectly affect rankings, with increased visibility via rich snippets.

In May 2020, Inlinks carried out a controlled test in which many SEOs added the sameAs schema to their site and made little to no other changes to their Seo strategy. It was found that, over the course of a month, twice as many sites gained rankings than lost rankings. Although Google does not say for sure that sameAs schema has a direct change to the core algorithms, it is extremely helpful to tell explain what you’re talking about using authoritative URLs.  

Is there an easy way to add the sameAs tag to my website?  

Yes! When you inject the Inlinks JavaScript code onto your site, Inlinks automatically generates a schema markup for the topics you have targeted to your pillar pages. This is enabling ABOUT and MENTIONS schema which is aided by the sameAs tag. Not only this, but it also creates FAQ schema  

Inlinks can do this so well as it has built its own knowledge graph, which connects a mass amount of ‘about’ entities through the sameAs tag.  

Here is an example, I have highlighted the sameAs tag in red:  

<script type="application/ld+json"> {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://dixonjones.com/seo/seo-traps-in-wordpress/#ContentSchema",
"headline": "SEO Traps & WordPress",
"url": "https://dixonjones.com/seo/seo-traps-in-wordpress/",
"about": [
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Search_engine_optimization", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "WordPress", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "trap", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapping"}
],
"mentions": [
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Search Engine", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "website", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "blog", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Digital Marketing", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_marketing"},
   {"@type": "Organization", "name": "Google", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "print", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing"},
   {"@type": "Thing", "name": "Marketing", "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing"}
]
} </script>

Inlinks has generated its schema markup to include a primary and a secondary about data. This spells out the relevant topics on this page. When injected onto your page this JavaScript uses its own knowledge graph to create these associations all within 4-5 clicks. 

Try inlinks for FREE to see how it can help improve your schema markup strategy.