Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Benefits/drawbacks to different Schema markup languages (ie. JSON-LD, Microdata, RDFa)
-
Just a question (or questions) I have wondered about. What's the difference, besides the actual encoding, between the three? Why have three? Why not just the one? Seems to me that Microdata is the easiest, but maybe I am wrong. Is there a reason to use one versus another? I have not found anything explaining this on schema.org - I suppose this is just a discussion versus getting one right or wrong answer. I am just curious of the opinions of people in the SEO MOZ community. Unless of course there is one answer. I'll take that too.
-
Great, Peter. Thanks for the answers. I now understand the difference. Much appreciated.
-
That's right. JSON-LD doesn't require change of HTML compared with Microdata and RDFa. And this is one of answers why JSON-LD is beautiful. Second is because you can make changes in JSON-LD without touching HTML. Like adding new fields, parameters, etc.
About placing. I think that this can be just on home page. Placing in each page is pure rich snippet spam.
-
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the answer. So, as I understand it, and keep in mind this is coming from someone that is not very code-savvy, with JSON-LD, one could put the script anywhere in the HTML, the header, the body, the footer, etc. and it won't show up on the actual page, but the search engine will be able to read it. This implies that no changing or tweaking of the actual HTML is necessary, no messing around with 's or
's like you would with Microdata or RDFa, correct?
A follow up question, if I may, how would you implement something like a "local business" schema with JSON, would you put the script on every page, in the footer perhaps? Or would you just put it on the home page? Does it matter?
Thanks
-
So far we have Microdata, RDFa and JSON-LD.
I'll cover Microdata and RDFa in same because they're similar. So they both are addition to HTML attributes indicating what Schema.org field names correspond with what user-visible text on the page. Works perfect but need lot of developer work and designer changes. Because both backend (admin interface) and frontend (HTML) must be changed. And there are many issues that can be messed - incorrect implementation, "rich snippet spam", software bugs, etc. Look easy as 1-2-3 but in reality it's pain (PIA) for implementation and support. Example - only product implementation require in backend least 10 edit boxes if they're manual filled.
JSON-LD - it's relative new protocol based on Schema.org. The main benefit is that you split representation layer (HTML) from semantic layer (JSON-LD). In prev. formats - they're same and linked each other. Now they're split. This give you much more freedom than before. You can place HTML data whatever you wish and just add hidden JSON in head or in content that will add semantic marking. This is future (for now).
If you wish to read more about creation of JSON-LD then this article is for you:
http://manu.sporny.org/2014/json-ld-origins-2/
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Schema Markup Validator vs. Rich Results Test
I am working on a schema markup project. When I test the schema code in the Schema Markup Validator, everything looks fine, no errors detected. However, when I test it in the Rich Results Test, a few errors come back.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Collegis_Education
What is the difference between these two tests? Should I trust one over the other?1 -
JSON-LD schema markup for a category landing page
I'm working on some schema for a client and have a question regarding the use of schema for a high-level category page. This page is merely the main lander for Categories. For example: https://www.examples.com/pages/categories And all it does is list links to the three main categories (Men's, Women's, Kid's) - it's a clothing store. This is the code I have right now. In short, simply using type @Itemlist and an array that uses @ListItem. Structured Data Testing Tool returns no errors with it, but my main question is this: Is this the _correct _way to do a page like this, or are there better options? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Alces0 -
Meta-description issue in SERPs for different countries
I'm working with a US client on the SEO for their large ecommerce website, I'm working on it from the UK. We've now optimised several of the pages including updating the meta-descriptions etc. The problem is when I search on the keyword iin the UK I see the new updated version of the meta-description in SERPs results. BUT when my client searches on the same keyword in the US they're see the old version of the meta-description. Does any one have any idea why this is happening and how we can resolve it? Thanks Tanya
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TanyaKorteling0 -
Difference hummingbird and rankbrain
From my understanding hummingbird is the fact that google is able to parse sentences and link entites to understand the meaning of content in a better way than with just keywords and rankbrain is about user intent, google understands that they are various ways to mean the same thing. Is my understanding correct ? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
H1 and Schema Codes Set Up Correctly?
Greetings: It was pointed out to me that the h1 tags on my website (www.nyc-officespace-leader.com) all had exactly the same text and that duplication may be contributing to the very low page authority for most URLs. The duplicate h1 appears in line 54-54 (see below) of the home page: www.nyc-officespace-leader.com: itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness" style="position:absolute;top:-9999em;"> <span<br>itemprop="name">Metro Manhattan Office Space</span<br> <img< p="">But the above refers to schema" so is this really duplicate H1 or is there an exception if the H1 is within a schema? Also, I was told that the company street address and city and state were set up incorrectly as part of an alt tag. However these items also appear as schema in lines 49-68 shown below: Dangerous for me to perform surgery on the code without being certain about these key items!! Could ask my developer, however they may be uncomfortable considering that they set this up in the 1st place. So the view of neutral professionals would be highly welcome! itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan1
<span<br>itemprop="streetAddress">347 5th Ave #1008
<span<br>itemprop="addressLocality">New York
<span<br>itemprop="addressRegion">NY
<span<br>itemprop="postalCode">10016<div<br>itemprop="brand" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
---------------------------------------------------------------------------</div<br></span<br></span<br></span<br></span<br></img<>0 -
Redirect wordpress from /%post_id%/%postname%/ to /blog/%postname%/
Hi what is the code to redirect wordpress blog from site.com/%post_id%/%postname%/ to site.com/blog/%postname%/ We are moving the site to a new server and new url structure. Thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Taiger0 -
Benefits of Rich Snippets for financial products
Does anyone have experience of using rich snippets for non-physical products? Our website offers credit cards comparison service. Do you think that tagging each card's page with rich snippets such as credit card image, name, description and category makes sense? The idea is to make it stand out in the search results.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | imoney0 -
Is it bad to host an XML sitemap in a different subdomain?
Example: sitemap.example.com/sitemap.xml for pages on www.example.com.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SEOTGT0