The Role of Schema Markup in Ecommerce SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

Search engines, like Google and Bing, crawl your website to understand its content and pages. This allows them to share relevant search results and information with users, such as product pricing and delivery options. But how do search engines get this information?

Schema markup – also known as structured data – is a piece of code that you can add to different website pages to better organize your content for search engines. This gives search engines context and a greater understanding of your online store, helping them recognize which pages to rank for specific queries.

➡️ See our SEO glossary to learn additional ecommerce SEO terms.

Schema markup for ecommerce can help you earn valuable and rich results in search engines, connecting customers with your store and products.

There are over 800 different schema types in total, but Google recognizes roughly 30+ of them. Of those, online store owners should be aware of a few in particular:

• Product schema – Displays specific product information, such as name and pricing, directly in the SERPs (search engine results pages) so customers can see product details at the initial search stage

✅ Best for: product pages

• Organization schema – This gives Google a clear overview of your business (providing information such as your brand name, logo, contact details, and social media links), meaning accurate information will be displayed in the side panel description when someone searches for your business

✅ Best for: homepage, about page

• Local business schema – If you run a physical store, use this schema markup to share information like your business address and phone number in Google Search and Google Maps

✅ Best for: homepage, about page, contact page, business location pages

• Reviews and ratings schema – This shows a star rating as part of your search result, indicating to customers how satisfied others have been with their purchases

✅ Best for: product pages, online courses, testimonial pages

• Article schema – Google will create a summarized view of your article content in the search result, usually sharing key details like the title, featured image, author, and the date it was published

✅ Best for: blog posts, news, trending articles

• Video schema – Give your video content and product videos the best chance of appearing in search results by providing detailed video information, such as the thumbnail URL and video length, to Google

✅ Best for: product pages

• Breadcrumb schema – This data helps Google and customers understand how your site is structured, see how pages connect, and navigate your content

✅ Best for: across your ecommerce site

• FAQ schema – Adding this type of schema can help your answers appear in search results to grab the attention of potential customers

✅ Best for: FAQ pages, support pages

Ecommerce-specific schema directs more valuable customers and leads to your business thanks to the rich results that schema helps generate. And that’s just one of the benefits – I’ll touch on more reasons why you should recognize the importance of schema markup for ecommerce in the following section.

As I’ve mentioned, adding ecommerce schema to your site can benefit your online store in a multitude of ways. I’ll walk you through the main perks below:

#1. Increases Click-Through-Rate

When you use schema to provide search engines with valuable information, searchers are more likely to find what they need and click through to your page. Gaining rich results in the SERPs can help your business stand out from the competition.

As a result, your business could see a boost in search visibility and traffic – which then translates into more customers on your product pages.

#2. Provides Shoppers With Relevant Information

As well as sharing information with search engines, schema markup is a key way to share product details with customers if you’re selling online. Without accurate information, you risk putting people off shopping with your business. Instead, you should aim for a positive shopping experience by helping your customers make informed decisions.

Adding product schema to your pages is an essential step when building your online store, especially if you’re selling physical products. Plus, it’s easy enough to do through Google’s Merchant Center.

Structured data including your product’s name, availability, and customer ratings will appear alongside your products in search results. Customers want as much information as possible before completing a purchase, so you want this data to appear on channels like Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Lens.

➡️ Google gave Google Lens an AI makeover in November 2024, showing customers relevant product information (such as in-stock labels) when browsing stores in person. Your site’s product schema supports this feature.

#3. Helps Local Customers Find You

Brick-and-mortar stores that have websites can use local business schema to share relevant location-specific information with nearby customers. For example, this can include your store’s opening hours and address. This data can help drive physical traffic to your business.

When you search for a business on Google, you’ll see a detailed profile with valuable information about the store – this is structured data being pulled through.

#4. Boosts Conversions

There are a number of ways in which implementing different ecommerce schema can boost your sales.

For example, schema can make your site appear more professional and eye-catching in search results, encouraging trust in your brand. Plus, sharing details, like the fact that you offer free shipping or that a product has limited availability, can help entice customers to click on your store instead of another store which doesn’t make this helpful information clear right away.

#5. Highlights Reviews and Ratings

Customers trust other customers. We all look at reviews and ratings before making a purchase, right? We’re influenced by what our family, friends, and favorite content creators recommend. So, using the reviews and ratings schema helps Google share familiar star ratings in search results.

While all of these schema types are invaluable for ecommerce businesses, I particularly recommend implementing this format. Sharing reviews can really help to build brand trust and customer satisfaction.

#6. Prevents Crawling Confusion

I touched on it briefly at the start of this article, but schema markup is crucial if you want search engines like Google to understand your site. Without this data, search engines will lack the context and information they need to categorize your pages effectively.

You need schema markup to avoid any confusion when search engines crawl and index your online store. It’ll help get your products seen by the right customers and for relevant search terms.

#7. Improves Your Site’s EEAT

With rich snippets – as a result of schema markup – your site’s pages have a better chance of appearing in higher positions in the SERPs. It won’t necessarily help your pages take the top ranks since schema markup isn’t a direct ranking factor, but it’ll certainly put your business in the best position it can be.

As a result, rolling out schema markup will help boost your site’s EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) in the eyes of Google.

Google recommends businesses show first-hand experience and unique insights on their websites, and adding structured data makes it easier for Google to see related and connected content on your site.

So, how can you add schema markup to your ecommerce store? The task can vary depending on the size of your online business, but as I’ve made clear, the benefits are huge and you don’t need to be a technical expert to get started.

1. First, you need to decide on the most relevant schema markup for the page. Refer back to the earlier section to see the types of schema markup I most recommend for ecommerce businesses, such as product schema.
2. Create machine-readable code to communicate the data with Google. You can use a tool like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to create your schema code for you – simply input the type of markup you want and your page’s URL, and then copy the generated personalized markup into your page’s HTML. Three primary markup formats are supported: JSON-LD, microdata, and RDFa – but Google recommends using JSON-LD. Many ecommerce website builders, including Shopify, have product schema automatically built into your store.
3. Make sure all the information on your website is up to date and correct so Google can create accurate rich results. Customers won’t appreciate seeing incorrect product information when they’re trying to decide whether to shop with your store or not.
4. Finally, you should check your existing schema for errors to ensure search engines can actually understand the structured data. I recommend using a tool like Google’s Rich Result Test or Schema.org’s Schema Markup Validator to review your ecommerce schema.

The key takeaway from this article is that adding schema markup to your ecommerce store is critical if you want to grow online and boost your site’s visibility and traffic. You give Google a deeper understanding of your page’s content by adding this machine-readable code to its back end, which ultimately leads to rich results in the SERPs and more customers seeing your products.

So, what’s next? Follow the steps listed above – decide what schema markup to use, implement it, and test the code. I know it can be a daunting task, especially for beginners, but use the support available and let us know if you have any questions!