Structured data is a huge area, and it can be tempting to just throw everything at your site. In this talk, backed up by data from SEO split tests over the last few years, I'll go through exactly which structured data changes are worth investing in, and which are a waste of time.

1. Structured Data:
Is It Worth Your Time?
@samnemzer
#brightonSEO

4. ODN

5. I started in 2015

6. 4 years in consulting

7. 1 year specialising in SEO
split testing

8. ODN

9. Over 1000 SEO split tests

10. SEO Split Testing
in 60 Seconds

11. We split similar
pages on a site into
two buckets. We
apply a change to
half of them, and
leave the others as
a control group.
Cats
Dogs Unicorns
BadgersCats
Dogs Unicorns
Badgers
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...

12. We split similar
pages on a site into
two buckets. We
apply a change to
half of them, and
leave the others as
a control group.
Cats
Dogs Unicorns
BadgersCats
Dogs Unicorns
Badgers
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
Variant Group
Control Group

13. <script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
This is different to
CRO tests, where
each page has a
control and variant
version.
CRO
Cats
Dogs Unicorns
BadgersCats
Dogs Unicorns
Badgers
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
<script type=
"application/
ld+json">...
CRO tool

14. 1000 -
5000 -
4000 -
3000 -
2000 -
6000 -
7000 -
Control
group
Variant
groupTest start
date

15. Structured Data:
Is It Worth Your Time?
@samnemzer
#brightonSEO

16. Short answer:
Sometimes...

17. Impact
Investment

18. What not to do

19. 1.
Go to
schema.org

20. 2.
Write down
all the
relevant
types

21. 3.
Prepare a
50 page
document

22. Time consuming

23. Impossible to
measure impact

24. Pisses off developers

25. Have intentionality

26. Why do we want
structured data?

30. Specific SERP Features
Semantic Understanding
Improving Organic CTR
Either...

31. Specific SERP Features
Semantic Understanding
Improving Organic CTR
Either...

32. https://bit.ly/google-sd-gallery

33. Organization:
basic hygiene
Specific SERP features

34. Niche specific
markup: if it’s relevant
Specific SERP features
E.g. Book, Movie,
Critic Reviews, Recipes

35. Specific SERP Features
Semantic Understanding
Improving Organic CTR
Either...

36. Semantic Understanding

37. Semantic Understanding
“... we do use structured data to
better understand the entities on a
page and to find out where that page is
more relevant. ” John Mueller

38. Semantic Understanding
My interpretation:
If Google can’t work out what your page is
about, structured data might help. But it
won’t improve your rankings for things you
already rank for.

39. We’ve tested this!

40. Adding semantic schema to rich pages

41. Adding semantic schema to rich pages
NO IMPACT

42. Adding semantic schema to thin pages

43. Adding semantic schema to thin pages
MODERATE
UPLIFT
(not statistically significant)

44. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Non-snippet markup can be effective for
thin pages

45. Specific SERP Features
Semantic Understanding
Improving Organic CTR
Either...

46. This is where the big wins are

47. And some losses

48. FAQs
Breadcrumbs
Products
Reviews

49. FAQs

51. Everyone
6 months
ago:

52. +4%

53. +4%

54. +8%

55. +16%

56. +25%

57. Note: this is all on
commercial/transactional
pages

58. You can only have one of:
● product/reviews
or
● FAQsBut...

59. Replacing Product Markup with FAQs
led to a drop
-5%

60. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Use FAQ schema on pages that don’t get
product markup
(e.g. category pages)

61. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Be cautious with FAQ schema on product
pages

62. Breadcrumbs

63. https://www.example.com/products/p123

64. https://www.example.com/products/p123

65. Fixing broken breadcrumb schema: Before
*Disclaimer: This isn’t the actual client!

66. Fixing broken breadcrumb schema: After
*Disclaimer: This isn’t the actual client!

67. Adding breadcrumb markup

68. Adding breadcrumb markup
-4%

69. Before After
*Disclaimer: This isn’t the actual client!

70. Before After
*Disclaimer: This isn’t the actual client!

71. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Be cautious with breadcrumb markup if
your URLs are already clean

72. Products
Reviews

73. Review markup Offer markup

74. Review + offer markup

75. Review + offer markup
NO IMPACT

76. Just review markup

77. Just review markup
+24%

78. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Price markup isn’t always beneficial,
especially if prices aren’t competitive

79. How do you make sure Structured Data is
worth your time?

80. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Make sure you know why you’re adding
structured data

81. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
Non-snippet markup can be effective for
thin pages

82. Takeaway
@samnemzer #brightonSEO
If you’re impacting the SERP, make sure
it’s a positive impact

83. Thanks!
Keep up to date with our latest case studies via
bit.ly/sp-case-studies
@samnemzer #brightonSEO