My introduction to product structured data

In e-commerce, it is essential that your products are highly visible online for success. An effective way to improve this visibility is to use product structured data. In this article, I’ll show you what product structured data is, why it’s so important and how you can use it to improve the online presence of products.

What is product structured data?

Structured data refers to a standardized format that provides certain information about a Web page and classifies the content of the page. In the case of products, this mainly involves specific information such as the name, price, availability, reviews and more. This information is presented in a structured format. Search engines like Google can understand and process this data so easily

Why is product structured data so important?

1. Improved search engine findability: by using structured data, search engines easily find important information about your products and show it in search results.
2. Rich snippets: product structured data can make your product listings in search results stand out, with instantly visible reviews, prices and availability.
3. Higher click-through rates (CTR): attractive search results often lead to more clicks, which means more people go to your website.
4. Trust and credibility: showing reviews and ratings can increase trust with potential customers.

Implementation of product structured data

Adding structured data for products can be done using JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data). This is a method recommended by Google.

jsonCopy code

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org/”,
“@type”: “Product”,
“name”: “SuperWidget 3000”,
“image”: “http://example.com/product.jpg”
“description”: “The latest SuperWidget 3000 is perfect for your needs.”,
“fire”: {
“@type”: “Brand”,
“name”: “WidgetCorp”
},
“aggregateRating”: {
“@type”: “AggregateRating”,
“ratingValue”: “4.4”,
“reviewCount”: “89”
},
“offerings”: {
“@type”: “Offer”,
“priceCurrency”: “EUR”,
“price”: “99.99”,
“itemCondition”: “http://schema.org/NewCondition”,
“availability”: “http://schema.org/InStock”
}
}

Explanation

1. @context: this is a Schema.org URL indicating that the structured data was created according to the Schema.org standard. It lets search engines such as Google know the vocabulary used for the data in the JSON-LD.
2. @type: this indicates that the object type is a ‘Product’. This communicates to the search engines that the information is about a product.
3. name: the name of the product. In the example it is: SuperWidget 3000.
4. image: a URL to the image of the product. This ensures that search engines and users see an image of the product.
5. description: a description of the product. This communicates the additional information in the description to the search engines and potential buyers.
6. fire:
   • @type: this indicates that this section contains information about the brand.
   • name: this gives the name of the brand of the product. In the example it is: WidgetCorp.
7. aggregateRating: this is an object that describes the overall rating of the product.
   • @type: this indicates a collection of ratings.
   • ratingValue: this indicates the average score of the product based on the total number of reviews.
   • reviewCount: this indicates the total number of reviews this product has received.
8. offers: this provides information about the product’s offer.
   • @type: this eects that it is an offer.
   • priceCurrency: this indicates the currency. In the example it is: “EUR” for euro.
   • price: this gives the price of the product.
   • itemCondition: this indicates the condition of the product. In the example, that is: new.
   • availability: this gives the availability of the product. In the example, that is: in stock.

If you can show the information in a structured way, search engines understand the product details better. This can cause the product to be seen more often in search results and clicked on more often.

Summary

Using product structured data is a powerful strategy for any e-commerce website. It improves the visibility and attractiveness of products in search results. In addition, it increases credibility and trust with potential customers. Using this technique can give you a significant edge in the increasingly competitive online marketplace. If you want to see a full overview of the possibilities around product structured data you can continue reading through this link.