Much of our work last week involved adding JSON-LD to page templates: copying a block, editing it in a text editor, inserting it, running the page through Google's Structured Data Testing Tool, reviewing the errors, correcting them and testing again. The work is methodical rather than spectacular, yet for a small tourism site it is among the most useful web improvements available at present, and very few businesses in the region are doing it.
The reason is straightforward. Google displays more and more information directly in search results: star ratings, event dates, opening hours, prices, and a knowledge panel on the right with photos and a phone number. Some of this comes from the Google My Business listing. Much of it comes from structured data on the website. Businesses that provide it receive the additional lines; those that do not receive a plain blue link.
What is structured data?
A small block of code that states a page's key facts in a format machines can read without guessing. A web page is written for people. A person reading "Open daily 8 to 5, closed on Nyepi" understands it immediately; a machine has to interpret it.
Structured data, usually invisible on the page, states the same information in a machine-readable format: this is the business name, this is the address, these are the hours, this is an event and it starts on this date. The standard vocabulary is Schema.org, launched in 2011 by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, with Yandex joining later that year.
The simplest explanation for a business owner is this: structured data means completing Google's form about the business. If the form is left blank, Google fills it in with whatever it can collect, and sometimes it gets things wrong: outdated hours, an old phone number or the wrong pin on the map.
Where should a tourism business start?
With LocalBusiness, or one of its more specific types. For any small tourism business, this is the first block. Schema.org provides a long list of types. For a dive centre, SportsActivityLocation fits. For a guesthouse, LodgingBusiness or BedAndBreakfast. For a restaurant, Restaurant.
The basic fields:
- name, exactly as it appears on the sign and the Google listing
- address, divided into street, locality, region, postal code and country
- telephone, in international format for businesses receiving foreign guests, as tourism businesses do
- openingHoursSpecification
- geo coordinates
- url, logo and image
- sameAs, linking to the Facebook, Instagram, TripAdvisor and other profiles
That is sufficient for a first pass: one block, on the home page or the contact page. Once a template exists, the work takes about half an hour per site.
Consistency matters more than many owners realize. If the name is "Blue Reef Diving" in the markup, "Blue Reef Dive Centre" on Google Maps and "BlueReef" on Facebook, the machines are left to guess, which is precisely what the markup was meant to prevent. On an island where an address is often "the road past the yellow bridge," the geo coordinates do much of the work and must be accurate.
Which other types of markup are worth adding?
Reviews, with caution; events, as a priority; and courses.
Should reviews be marked up?
Only genuine reviews that appear on the page. Every business wants gold stars under its link. At present, reviews on a business's own site can be marked up with AggregateRating, and Google often displays the stars.
Caution is advisable. Many sites mark up five hand-picked testimonials and present them as a rating, while Google's rules already state that review markup must reflect real reviews on the page. Google is unlikely to tolerate this practice indefinitely. Businesses that use review markup should apply it only to genuine reviews actually displayed on the page, and should not base their strategy on the stars. Reviews on TripAdvisor and on the Google listing carry more weight with guests in any case.
Why prioritize event markup?
Because it provides free visibility. A dive shop running a beach cleanup, a night dive special or a full moon trip, or a guesthouse hosting a music evening, should mark up the name, the date, the location and the price, if any. Google can display upcoming events directly in the results, and for a small business that is visibility obtained without paying Facebook to promote a post.
What does course markup offer?
Schema.org includes a Course type. For a dive centre, each PADI course page fits naturally: name, description and provider. Its main value, in our experience, lies in the discipline it imposes rather than in a measurable direct result. Writing the markup requires stating clearly what the course is, who teaches it and what it costs. Many course pages remain vague on all three points, and guests notice.
What is the most important rule for structured data?
Mark up only what is visible on the page. Google's guidelines require markup to describe content that visitors can actually see. A price cannot appear in the markup if it is not on the page; an event cannot be marked up if it is not listed; a rating cannot be invented.
Some treat structured data as a way to tell Google things that customers do not see. That approach can lead to a manual action, Google's term for a penalty. The honest approach is also the simpler one: write the page properly first, then describe it in markup.
How should markup be tested?
Before publication, and again after every site update. The Structured Data Testing Tool is free and accepts either a URL or a block of code. It shows what it found and flags errors and warnings. Errors must be corrected. Warnings should be reviewed; most concern missing optional fields that are worth adding.
Search Console is the next step. Its structured data report shows the markup Google has found across the entire site and indicates which items contain errors. This is where problems on forgotten pages become visible.
Markup should be retested after every site update. A theme update or a new page builder silently removing the markup is very common. The problem typically goes unnoticed until the additional lines disappear from the results, by which time several weeks have passed.
Why is structured data becoming more important?
Some of the enthusiasm around rich results is likely to fade. Google changes what it displays frequently, and businesses that add markup solely for a visual effect will eventually be disappointed.
The core value is different. Clean LocalBusiness markup with accurate, consistent details is one of the least expensive measures available for local SEO. Moreover, the systems reading a website are no longer limited to the search results page. Google Home launched last fall, people speak to Siri and Alexa, and Google continues to expand its Knowledge Graph. All of these systems try to determine who the business is, where it is located and when it is open. The clearer the information, the less they must guess, and the trend indicates that this will only grow.
For businesses unsure whether their site contains structured data, or whether a plugin has silently broken it, this is one of the first items to examine in an SEO audit. The task is small. Most small tourism sites we review do not have it, which is precisely why it is worth implementing before competitors do.