Structured data for plumbers, explained
There is a lot that goes into making plumber websites look good and provide helpful information to potential customers, but there’s also a lot that goes into making sure the major search engines find those websites. One of those important elements is using schema (structured data) for your plumbing website. While using structured data will ensure that your plumber PPC and plumber SEO campaigns will run smoothly, you’ll also be improving the way your web pages display on search engine result pages (SERPs). You may even earn the coveted “rich snippet,” which is displayed beneath the title tag in SERPs. Let’s get into it!What We’ll Investigate
You’ve probably heard your digital marketing partner use a lot of “geek speak” when discussing the performance of your plumber marketing campaigns. It’s natural to be confused by the technical ins and outs of digital marketing as a plumber—just as your clients don’t fully understand how exactly you’re going to fix their burst pipe. In the blog below, our plumbing SEO experts dive into the question: What is schema (structured data) for plumbers? Including:- What is schema for plumbers
- What information schema can share with search engines
- How plumbers can benefit from schema markup
What Is Schema Markup Language?
In 2011, Google, Bing, and Yahoo came together to create schema, which is a website that established a universal language all search engines can read and understand. In short, schema for plumbers removes any guessing or assumptions search engines make when crawling your website. This increases your chances of ranking on page one of search results and generates more website traffic and sales from search engines. For example, instead of Google assuming what your business name, phone number, or physical address is, use schema markup to tell Google who you are and how customers can contact you using the plumber schema type. This lessens the chances of mistakes. Schema markup also feeds directly into your business’ knowledge graph, which can further boost SEO value.Schema Provides more complete Information to Search Engines
Search engines want to deliver the best information to you when you ask them a question. To do that they “crawl” the web to find the best answers. Proper use of structured data is like painting giant “HERE!” and “I HAVE THE ANSWER!” or “ME, ME, ME!” signs all over your site. But of course, consumer searches vary and people have many ways of asking the same questions. But rather than have many ways of answering those questions, the search engines gave us a cheat sheet in the form of schema markup, also called “structured data.” By having an agreed upon standard between the three major search engines, not only do web developers know what the “best practice” is for any given website or industry, search engines also have an easier time understanding and delivering the best, most relevant answers. Schema markup is universally read and understood by Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, so implementing it boosts your SEO visibility across all three platforms.What Information Can I Tag With Structured Data?
If you go to schema.org for plumbers, you’ll see a lot of item types, including ones that are obvious (and absolutely crucial for your site):- name – (business name)
- url – (link to your website’s home page)
- logo – (link to your company’s logo)
- telephone – (your direct business line)
- address – (your business address)
- addressLocality (city)
- addressRegion (state)
- postalCode
- streetAddress
- openingHours
- paymentAccepted
- priceRange
- AreaServed
- aggregateRating (this represents an overall rating, based on a collection of reviews or ratings)
- ratingValue (overall Google My Business review rating)
- reviewCount (total number of Google My Business reviews)
- makesOffer (indicates the services you offer)
- contactpoint (think “contact us” pages)
- employee (identifies one of your team members)
- globalLocationNumber (13-digit number used to identify physical locations and parties)
- branchCode (if you have specific numbers assigned to your locations, they would be classified here)
How Can I Tag Schema Markup As a Plumber?
Still with me? You’re doing great! There are three different ways to tag your schema markup as a plumber:- HTML – This is often called schema markup or microformat, and is the easiest to learn and the most common format used.
- JSON-LD – This is Google’s favorite format and even has its own site. Using this is “future-proofing” your site.
- RDFa – This works for a wide variety of needs and in many coding languages, but it requires a high level of technical proficiency and won’t be necessary to build outstanding plumber websites.
How Can Schema Help Plumbing Contractors?
We’ve talked about some of this already. Structured data helps your plumbing website:- Attract more relevant traffic – By working with the search engines to give them the data they are asking for, you increase the chances that the right people find you.
- Increase click-through rates – Providing search engines with more rich information about your business, you’re likely to increase your organic click-through rate on SERPs.
- Optimize your SEO campaign – Remember that scene in Jerry Maguire when Jerry tells his client, “Help me help you!”? Because you’ve helped the search engines, they will turn around and help you by ranking you higher in search.
- Generate more rich search results – The information about your business will be up-to-date and accurate for local search results.
Before You Begin Using Structured Data
Before you get started, you need to know the difference between “required” and “recommended” as far as the search engines are concerned. Google lists those for you here.
- Emergency Plumbing Services
- Residential Plumbing Services
- Commercial Plumbing Services
How Do Plumbers Implement Schema Markup?
Google will help you out with broad and specific guidelines, including a list of “thou shalt nots.” Ignore these at your website’s peril. The basic premise underlying these guidelines? Don’t be spammy. Provide genuine, relevant, helpful content. Once you’ve:- Looked up your needed schema data type on the schema.org website
- Collected the local information for the page you wish to include schema markup on
- Selected the schema type you wish to use
- Coded your schema entities
- Installed your schema markup on your website
