Under the Hood: Advanced Semantic Markup for SEO

Under the HoodAdvanced Semantic Markup for SEO

Will Hattman

Organic Search Specialist

[email protected]

The Information Superhighway

Remember this?

This was the dominant

metaphor for the wondrous

information-rich future that we

were promised by the TV

talking heads back in the 90s.

The Information Superhighway

Remember this?

This was the dominant

metaphor for the wondrous

information-rich future that we

were promised by the TV

talking heads back in the 90s.

[TV is this thing that we

had before we had the

internet.]

Try Information Heaven

The internet is not a physical space, so the idea of being slave to the limitations of the physical world while exploring it is unacceptable.

The internet is a space without distances.

Therefore, it’s a space where you get what you want the instant you

want it, even if you don’t know

where it’s going to come from.

That’s not any kind of highway.

That’s heaven.

The Hive Mind

The internet is where we decided to build our collective mind.

But it’s not enough

that it simply stores

information, like our

individual minds

do…

we also want it to

function the way

our minds function:

non-linearly.

Associatively.

Search Is What Makes This PossibleThe power and availability of

search engines is the reason we

can navigate the hive mind in

much the way we navigate our

own minds.

Search makes the process of

retrieving content from the web

as easy as retrieving one of our

own memories.

In theory.

Why Do We Search?All search depends on a fundamental premise…

The Content Is Out There…and not only is it a search engine’s job to find

it, but because of our love for the hive mind

model, we increasingly can’t get to the content

we seek without their help.

You are here, the content you seek is there,

and search paves the road between.

With each passing year, search is less and

less just one internet tool among many,

and more and more how we do the

internet.

The Content Is Out There…and not only is it a search engine’s job to find

it, but because of our love for the hive mind

model, we increasingly can’t get to the content

we seek without their help.

You are here, the content you seek is there,

and search paves the road between.

With each passing year, search is less and

less just one internet tool among many,

and more and more how we do the

internet.

SO WHY DOES

SEARCH EVER

FAIL?

Information RetrievalWhat do search engines need in order to be able to

give you what you’re looking for?



they need to know what’s out there to be served




(crawling)




(crawling)

they need to remember where it all lives




(crawling)


(indexation)




(crawling)


(indexation)

they need to know which sources to trust




(crawling)


(indexation)


(ranking factors)




(crawling)


(indexation)


(ranking factors)

they need to understand which of all the pages on the web

would best satisfy your query.




(crawling)


(indexation)


(ranking factors)



(the tricky part)




(crawling)


(indexation)


(ranking factors)



(the tricky part)

The evolution of the search engine is the evolution of machine understanding.

Search Engines Need HelpSearch engines have always sought to

discover the meaning of webpages.

There is a difference between knowing the names of

foods and knowing what they are.



The problem is, for most of the web’s

life, they’ve had very little to go on.





The problem is, for most of the web’s

life, they’ve had very little to go on.

Page copy

Headings

Metadata

URLs

Anchor text of inbound links

No matter what your webpage is

about, these elements are

fundamentally the same.

Traditionally, everything rests on

how well you populate these fields,

and how well a search engine can

interpret their contents.



Making Machines UnderstandIf machines only know what you tell

them, how can they be made to

understand meaning?

We have to input not just data, but

connections between data.

We have to program not just values,

but relationships.

We have to show them how to

associate.

TriplesThe concept of the knowledge “triple” is the basis for conveying meaning to machines.

It designates three elements:

subject

predicate

object

and arranges them to describe a relationship.

The subject has a relationship with the object. The nature of the relationship is described by the predicate.

Thus, though a machine cannot actually

learn or experience meaning the way a person can, it can simulate an understanding of meaning by reference to an ever-expanding web of relational context.

courtesy of http://www.rdfabout.com/intro

Enter Semantic MarkupSemantic markup uses this relational

model, based in triples, to designate

various types of pages on the web

based on their content, as well as

various properties within that content,

in ways that search engines can

understand

concretely

and

unambiguously.

The Emergence ofThe groundwork for the semantic

web was laid years ago, and several

different, competing standards arose

in a short period of time.

Schema.org, arriving in 2011, was the

first semantic markup vocabulary

with ambitions of universal adoption.








The fact that it was launched, funded,

and developed by these guys

probably is reason enough to believe

that it will become the standard.








The fact that it was launched, funded,

and developed by these guys

probably is reason enough to believe

that it will become the standard.

Actually, it kind of already has.

Let’s Get PracticalHow does it work?

As with most of the

world’s best things,

this question is best

answered with food.

Recipes constitute the

most visible semantic

search showcase on

the web. Search

Google for any dish by

name and behold the

wonder.

bipartite knowledge graph entryrich snippets galore

Let’s Get PracticalHow does it work?

As with most of the

world’s best things,

this question is best

answered with food.

Recipes constitute the

most visible semantic

search showcase on

the web. Search

Google for any dish by

name and behold the

wonder.

bipartite knowledge graph entryrich snippets galore

WHAT

SORCERY

IS THIS?

In most cases, rich

snippets are

generated from

site-side markup.

What Sorcery Is This?

In most cases, rich

snippets are

generated from

site-side markup.

First, you specify an

itemtype: a basic class

type for your item.

specifies class of item



names

property

In most cases, rich

snippets are

generated from

site-side markup.



type for your item.

Then, you indicate which

properties of the item

you’re going to

designate.



names

property

specifies value of item

In most cases, rich

snippets are

generated from

site-side markup.



type for your item.



you’re going to

designate.

Then, you assign

a value to each

property.



SUBJECT

PREDICATE

OBJECT

In most cases, rich

snippets are

generated from

site-side markup.



type for your item.



you’re going to

designate.

Then, you assign

a value to each

property.

These are just glorified triples.


SUBJECT

PREDICATE

OBJECT

In most cases, rich

snippets are

generated from

site-side markup.



type for your item.



you’re going to

designate.

Then, you assign

a value to each

property.

These are just glorified triples.(as long as you’re comfortable with something like “has property” as a universal verb)

But I Don’t Have a Recipe SiteSchema.org semantic markup can also

generate rich snippets on searches for:

Events

supported properties include

— location (including geographical coordinates)

— event type & description

— start date, end date, duration

— ticket purchase CTA

Products


— image

— description

— brand

— category

— reviews & ratings

— price

— SKU

— offer details

Other Schema Types

People


— name & nickname

— photo

— title/role

— affiliations

— social relationship to searcher, if any

— address

Organizations and Local Businesses


— name

— address (and/or geographical coordinates)

— telephone number

— logo

Schema.org Is Ever-GrowingAll of these are supported for at least some properties, and

more types are added to the list every year.

Specialized SearchPages bearing semantic markup can

qualify for certain specialized searches

on Google as well.



on Google as well.

This feature allows for search results to

be filtered



on Google as well.


be filtered

according to as many properties



on Google as well.


be filtered


as the item class in question



on Google as well.


be filtered


as the item class in question

allows.

The Knowledge GraphWhat about the stuff

on the right?bipartite knowledge graph entryrich snippets galore

The Knowledge GraphThis is Google’s Knowledge Graph.

It launched in 2012 and at the time constituted Google’s largest leap

yet toward the semantic web.

It is:

— gathered from trusted sources, defined by Google in familiarly

vague terms

— *the sources most commonly cited are Wikipedia,

Freebase, and the CIA World Factbook

— not dependent on site-side work

— aka impervious to your overtures

— designed to limit the world’s need for click-through altogether

— if Google feels equipped to answer the question directly on

the search results page, it’s not going to waste your time

making you perform an extra click

— based entirely on a relational model of understanding

— i.e. a thicket of triples in the billions

What Should I Do?For Rich Snippets:

— determine which Schema.org itemtypes your content qualifies for

— determine whether your CMS will allow you to implement via a plugin, or whether you

need to hard-code

— test your code using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool

www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets

— keep an eye out for evidence of new Schema.org support

— propose your own expansions to the vocabulary

For the Knowledge Graph:

— there is no direct path to earning a spot in the Knowledge Graph

— the long game involves getting yourself, your site, or your brand noticed and respected

— build trust over time via good acts (i.e. #RCS), good site content, and good SEO

— Google’s trust in you will increase with every forward-facing SEO measure your site

adopts

— Schema.org

— Google Authorship

— Full Google+ brand verification and community participation

Thank you!

Under the Hood: Advanced Semantic Markup for SEO

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