Schema Markup (also known as “structured data markup”) is standardized data format that helps Google find the information it needs on your site. We are able to add code to a site (or use a plugin/tool) that classifies this data. For example, you could add schema markup to a recipe page that helps Google identify the cooking time, the calories, the temperature, and the ingredients.

Google is able to identify certain things on our site by itself (for example, Google assumes that the piece of text on your page marked “H1” is your page’s name/main idea). However, by adding schema markup, we’re able to give Google even more info and remove any margin for error.

Consider this example:

“<h1>Avatar</h1> tells the browser to display the text string “Avatar” in a heading 1 format. However, the HTML tag doesn’t give any information about what that text string means—“Avatar” could refer to the hugely successful 3D movie, or it could refer to a type of profile picture—and this can make it more difficult for search engines to intelligently display relevant content to a user.”