Why You Should Use JSON-LD to Optimize Your Local SEO
Schema has become an integral part of optimizing your website for search, as it helps search engines have a better understanding of your website, allowing it to become more accessible for the users. When it comes to informative aspects of your website, adding schema markup provides more context for search engines for information such as location, contacts, and other crucial information that you want to provide to the user.
This makes schema crucial for business websites, especially with the expanding online market becoming increasingly competitive. With the wide variety of markup types available, you would be able to find the right one for your business and expand your search presence overall.
There are different types of schema available for your website, and when it comes to which one can help you rank better in Google SERPs, it has to be JSON-LD. With Local SEO making huge strides in growth, here’s why using JSON-LD is best for your local business, along with a few tips and steps on how to implement it.
About JSON-LD
JSON-LD (which stands for Javascript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a form of schema that utilizes Javascript for its implementation. Compared to other schemas, JSON-LD is a simpler system that is easier to implement on a website. JSON-LD aims to list and annotate important information on your website, allowing search engines to understand your website much better. One of the benefits of implementing JSON-LD is being able to optimize your featured snippets, which is very beneficial for local SEO, especially with users having a wide selection of choices.
Applying JSON-LD to your webpage
One of the best things about JSON-LD is that adding it to your website’s code is a simple process that mostly requires you to copy and paste the code into your document, which means that users with little coding experience would be able to implement this without much trouble. The most important part of implementation is finding the right item types to identify, like information about your business such as address, the name of the owner, contact details, and much more.
Implementing the code into your documents starts by adding the code <script type=’application/ld+json’>, which signals that the schema would be implemented into the page itself.
Here’s an example of the schema being added into the website’s code:
As you can see, JSON-LD has codes for each type of information on your webpage, allowing search engines to contextualize and provide this information in search and featured snippets. For this case, pieces of information, such as business hours, location, contact details, images, logos, and type of website are listed accordingly, allowing Google to understand much better.
The simplicity of this method is that all you have to do is to tag each part of the page with the appropriate tags, and you’re good to go. Website development and optimization have become simpler, with the latest WordPress being more accessible to users with little to no coding experience. With JSON-LD, it is another crucial process that has been streamlined with the user in mind. As standard procedure, it is best to have your code validated first before being fully implemented, and have it submitted on the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.
Why JSON-LD is best for your business website
JSON-LD is a versatile type of schema that allows search engines to understand your website’s information, and here are a few more reasons why it’s best for your business’ website.
It’s preferred by Google
Along with its relative accessibility and ease of use, JSON-LD is a schema system preferred by Google. This makes it a plus when it comes to aiming to boost your search rankings, along with appearing on SERPs providing updated and correct information to the user. This piece of information was stated by Google’s John Mueller, where he answered a question on which type of schema does Google prefer on their Webmaster’s Hangout session.
Your featured snippets look better
One of the benefits of using schema having better search snippets, allowing you to provide more information to the user about your business. With the abundance of choice online, being able to provide quality information can sometimes be the difference in getting someone to make a purchase. Along with featured snippets, your SERPs also look better and have additional details like this one below:
This can give you an edge over the local SEO competition, as you have a more detailed snippet, providing more information compared to other brands Featured snippets have become a fundamental element in SEO, and optimizing your schema really helps.
Key Takeaway
Schema has become an integral part of website optimization, with search engines making use of it to further understand what users are looking for. With JSON-LD, you would be able to allow Google to do just that, while also optimizing your local SEO altogether.
If you have questions and inquiries about Local SEO and SEO in general, leave a comment below and let’s talk.
