Structured data is a way to label or classify your content on a particular page or post, so that search engines are able to not only know what the content is, but also what it’s about. For example, the Food Network’s website uses structured data for its published recipes, and that allows search engines to better understand which parts of the content relate to the description, the ingredients, the directions, the reviews, and so on.
The more search engines understand your content, the higher your site’s SEO rank. Also, if we look at Google, there are different ways sites can be displayed on SERPs, such as featured snippets, rich results, and knowledge graphs. Search results presented in these ways can draw more attention, so it can help send more visitors to a site.
Structured data exists for a number of different content types, or schemas. However, search engines predominantly focus on only the following:
- Businesses and organizations
- Events
- People
- Products
- Recipes
- Reviews
- Videos
If you’d like to see the full list of structured data schemas, you can find them at Schema.org.
Structured data is added to your site using code, with the common coding languages for it being JSON and microdata HTML. If you’re publishing content on your site that aligns with the schemas that search engines focus on, it may be beneficial for you to add structured data parameters. On your WordPress.com site, this is most easily accomplished with the help of plugins. Here are a couple popular options:
- Yoast↗︎ offers a free plugin that can help provide the basics of structured data for sitewide content, and has premium plugins available for some specific schemas.
- Magazine3↗︎ offers a free plugin to help add structured data for all schemas, but it requires more manual configuration work to get things set up correctly.
Resources
Structured data with Schema.org: the ultimate guide↗︎ (External Resource)
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