It goes by many names…
Schema… Product Data… Google Structured Data… Fred…
Whatever you decide to call it – it’s what helps Google understand more about your Shopify store and products. It’s what allows those neat little review stars to show up in the search results. It’s what allows customers to price check straight from the SERPs.
It helps you stand out.
In this article we are not going to jump into the more specific details of Google Structured Data. We are however going to provide you with a brief overview of what it is and why it’s important – and how to test if your store is set up properly.
What is Structured Data?
Structured Data is just that – data. It’s content. It’s markup that allows Google to better understand what it’s “looking at” (crawling). If it’s very clear that a field on your product page is showing the price for example, then Google may allow this to display on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This is handy, because it makes your listing just a bit larger and more useful – and that can make all the difference online.
Why is Structured Data Important?
Because people performing searches want this information. It’s that simple. The people are there – which means that you (potentially) have a built in audience – so give them what they want! (Marketing 101)
Testing your Shopify Data:
This part is simple, head over to the Google Structured Data Testing Tool and plug in a product URL.
Oh, happy day. Next, make sure that your Shopify product does not return any warnings or errors, as seen here:
If you need help fixing this, contact a Shopify Expert. For example… us 🙂
Real World Example: CutCardStock
We recently completed this work for CutCardStock, a customer that we love working with. CutCardStock sells just that – cut cardstock. This image shows some of their data before the fix:
The following image shows the correct data – again, this is only in the testing tool.
Finally, through further testing we can see that reviews and prices are getting pulled into the search results:
As you can see this is much more attractive to a potential buyer. It removes some uncertainty, and just like that (after proper testing) we are able to check this off as complete! This is one of those changes that you need to make for your Shopify store. You have to make sure this is working properly, and once you do, move on to other things like Maximizing your Shopify Layout.
Cheers.
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