Organization structured data Putting on a website is useful because it communicates important information to Google, which can then be used to display the organization’s data in search results in an attractive way.
That’s why it’s important to properly implement organizational structured data.
Structural data types and properties
Before we get into organizing data types, it’s important to understand what data types and properties are.
Two components of structured data must be understood to make sense:
- Structured data types: Structured data types are usually a thing.
- Structured data attributes: Structured data attributes are qualities of things (often called attributes).
To use the technical language of structured data, the properties are Attributes Structured data type.
Structured data types and attribute definitions
When you look at the structured data script you will see that it contains data type.
The data type tells Schema.org what the subject of structured data is.
An analogy to structured data types
For example, an analogy for a data type might be a person.
In this example, people are things (or data type) this fictional structured data script is about.
A person’s height, gender and hair color can be said to be Attributes that person’s.
These properties, in structured data, are called characteristic The data type (in this fictional example, a person).
Organizing data types and their properties
Coming back to the type of organization, a company can be the thing described.
Or, as is often the case, organization types are part of larger structured data.
Nested Organization Structured Data
Structured data scripts can contain multiple structured data types.
This is called nested type of data.
Like other structured data types, organizational structured data types can be part of a larger structured data script.
This is called “nesting”.
For example, an organizational structured data type can be nested within a university “course” structured data to indicate the name of the school that offers the course.
Here is an example nested within an org data type University Course Structured Data.
Example from Google:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Course",
"name": "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming",
"description": "Introductory CS course laying out the basics.",
"provider": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "University of Technology - Eureka",
"sameAs": "http://www.ut-eureka.edu"
}
}
</script>
As you can see above, organizational structured data is nested within another structured data, in this case it is nested within the course structured data script.
Recipe Structured Data and Organizational Data Types
Google’s Recipe Structured Data Document Include recommended attributes for the author or organization of structured data for each recipe.
If the author is a specific person, then use people The attribute type of the author.
Sometimes, a particular person is not credited for content, in this case, organize Structured data types can be used.
When using the Organization structured data type, the rich result will display the name of the organization as the author of the content.
Organizing structured data
In the specific case of structured data for school courses, Google requires an organizational data type for every course that has structured data markup.
But for other structured data that can have an organizational type, Google doesn’t need it.
A good example is Product structured data.
Google provides structured data guidelines for two situations:
- A page for a single product.
- Aggregator page for a single product.
Aggregators are websites or platforms that list products from multiple sellers.
Google’s Product Structured Data Guidelines recommend using the “Brand” or “Organization” structured data types.
For the seller of the product, it doesn’t make sense to use “organization” to describe the manufacturer or seller of the product. Brands are more specific and logical.
Whether the retailer is Walmart, Etsy, Amazon, or eBay, you probably won’t see the type of organizational data used on their product pages.
The reason is that the “brand” structured data type is more suitable.
if you go to google Rich Results Test page and test product page URLs from eBay, Etsy, Walmart, or Amazon, and you’ll see that none of these sites use organizational structured data for the products listed on their site for sale.
The point is that it’s not always appropriate to organize structured data, even if Google says it can use it, in many cases.
It’s usually a good idea to choose an alternative when Google comes up with a better alternative.
local business organization
There are other situations where organizational structured data types can be used, such as local business structured data.
However, in terms of local business types, there are so many options to choose from, which makes choosing an organizational structured data type not the best choice.
Organizations may be too general to be used for local businesses.
Therefore, when creating structured data for a local business, it is best to choose the most specific type of business.
If the business is a restaurant, then it is better to use restaurant-specific structured data.
Google recommends:
“Use the most specific LocalBusiness subtype possible; for example, Restaurant, DaySpa, HealthClub, etc.”
More information is available at Google’s Central page for searching local businesses.
Local Business Reviews
It is important to note that local businesses can add user reviews about their business to their Local business structured data.
One thing to note is that local business structured data, including data with customer reviews, should not be replicated on every page of the website.
Google’s John Mueller specifically discourages the use of structured data for local businesses that have reviews on every page.
Apparently, some businesses are starting to use structured data on every page, hoping to get star-rich results on Google’s search results pages.
In an after-hours Google Hangout, at about 51 minutes and 36 seconds into the video, John Mueller explained:
“As far as I know, it’s just the home page…it doesn’t really matter to us because we need to be able to find it in places like the home page or the contact page.
But if we have it elsewhere then it doesn’t change anything about us.
So the most important thing that can’t be compared to that is the review markup, we sometimes see people putting company reviews on all the pages of their site, hoping to get a star in the search results for every page on their site, This will be bad.
But contact info, if you have the markup, that’s fine. I don’t think it’s a problem. “
Organization Flags Structured Data
An important use of organizational structured data types is to tell search engines the logo of the organization.
This structured data helps Google match the logo to an organization’s website and the organization itself.
Google states in its documentation Logo structured data markup This particular structured data sends a strong signal to Google to use the logo in its knowledge panel.
This data is then used in Knowledge Panel enrichment results so that when a user searches for an organization’s name, Google can display the site’s logo and other information in a special panel of search results.
Google provides the following structured data examples:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"url": "http://www.example.com",
"logo": "http://www.example.com/images/logo.png"
}
</script>
Where to use logo structured data
As Mueller calls the Organizational Review of Structured Data, this markup can be used on the home page. It can also be used on the About Us or Contact pages.
The placement of the structured data is less important than John’s suggestion that it only needs to be used once.
Qualify for rich search results using Google’s guidelines
One could argue that Google is forcing businesses to use certain structured data.
but it is not the truth.
Google doesn’t dictate what structured data businesses can use. Businesses can use any structured data they want.
However, structured data not recommended by Google will not help a site rank better or help it get rich results.
Only structured data recommended by Google can qualify a site for rich search results.
Stick to Google’s structured data guidelines
There are many options for creating structured data. It’s easy to spend hours creatively building structured data scripts.
Schema.org provides a wide range of structured data types and properties. But Google only used some options, not all of them.
It’s best to stick to Google’s recommendations, especially their best practice guidelines.
By adhering to the recommended structured data, you’ll be able to provide the information you need to best communicate your web content and potentially get enhanced listings in Google search results.
Google Structured Data Guidelines
Before working with any structured data related to organizational structured data types, familiarize yourself with Google’s Structured Data Guidelines.
These guidelines are designed to inform SEOs and publishers about bad practices that can result in sites being penalized for manual actions, reducing their visibility on Google search results pages.
The structured data guidelines apply to all structured data types.
What Google says are problematic top considerations:
“Structured data does not represent the main content of the page or may be misleading.
Structured data is incorrect in a way that rich-results tests cannot capture.
The content of structured data references is hidden from the user. “
Specific Types of Structured Data Guidelines
In addition to following the general structured data guidelines, each type of structured data (such as reviews, locals, recipe structured data, etc.) has its own guidelines and recommendations.
Every structured data has “required” properties that must be included in the structured data.
There are also some “recommended” attributes that are optional.
When validating structured data using Google’s Rich Results Tester, the tool flags missing attributes as “errors” and alerts people to missing “recommended” attributes as warnings.
It is generally safe to ignore these warnings, as they are unlikely to affect eligibility to appear in Google’s rich media search results.
Invalid structured data that does not have the required attributes will not get rich results.
Use of Organizational Structured Data Types
In many cases, Google recommends using the organizational structured data type.
In some cases, Google offers a choice between organizational types and more specific types. In these cases, it is usually better to choose a more specific type.
Finally, although Structured data plugins and tools Provides opportunities to automate the creation of structured data, but they don’t really guide you to understand your needs.
It’s also important to understand what the tool outputs, because then you can use your best judgment to make better decisions, and who better to make decisions than yourself?
More resources:
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