Business owners should always be looking for ways to improve their reputation and standing on Google. One of the best ways to do so is through the use of the Q&A schema. When correctly utilised, this tactic should allow you to showcase your authority within your industry as well as work towards landing your pages on the Google Knowledge Graph.
What is Schema?
Schema markups are special indicators which SEO specialists attach to content to attract the attention of Google. Search engines like Google need to read through content to assign it rankings. Schema like the Q&A markup allows you to give Google a clearer indication about what the content is about without affecting the user. In other words, you can tell Google a lot more about your content but all of this extra information is hidden from anyone using the search engine to answer a question.
Why Should I Use Schema?
Schema is a fantastic tool to capitalise on at the moment because very few companies are actually using it. If you are able to grab an underused Q&A markup at this early stage, you are going to be able to occupy some extremely important SERPs space. Though it is becoming more common to use schema, it is more than likely that you will be able to get quite a bit of use out of your markup before your direct competitors can catch up with you. Take advantage of it when you can; there are some fantastic benefits to be had.
Who Can Use the Q&A Schema?
One of the most obvious uses of the Q&A schema is for sites which are geared to this type of content. There are many websites around the internet which allow users to submit questions and receive answers from others. If you have such a website, you will need to make sure that you can include the markup as often as you can to allow your website to appear at the top of SERPs. With plenty of high-quality questions and answers at your disposal, there is no reason why you cannot ensure that your website is fully outfitted with the necessary Q&A schema markups. This will clearly talk to Google about what the site is about and gives you more visibility through your SEO. If you are able to appear frequently on the results pages with these good answers, you will improve your authority and traffic as people will
know that you are a good place to visit.
However, the Q&A markup is not just for these forum-based sites. Many companies decide to include FAQs or a Q&A section as part of their site structure. Not only does this provide an opportunity for potential customers to find out some of the information they might be lacking, but it is also the perfect opportunity for you to include some markups. If you can do so for a niche subject, there is a chance that you might make onto the featured snippets section of the results page. This is brilliant as it means that you are highlighted as being an authoritative case on the subject and you might gain a lot of traffic for it.
The Question and the Answer
There are several ways to set up your markup and the primary diverging point comes at the questions. You could set up the page as just a single question with differing answers that could be voted on or you could set it up to be a series of questions with their own specific answers. No matter what the structure is, you need to make sure that you declare that the page has the QA Page markup. There are many specific properties you might have to fill in too. These can range across several structures but will usually include an accepted answer, the text of the question itself and a quick
description to say that this is a question is for your business.
Having set up the question within the schema, it is incredibly important that you also set up the answers. Many of the properties of the answer section are the same as in the question. You will need to include the text of the answer and the tag to put it as part of your business, but you will also need to make sure that you associate the correct question as the parent Item.
Adding the Q&A Schema to Your Site
If you are running your site through WordPress, you will find that there is already a plugin ready and waiting for you to use. With this tool, you will be able to apply the necessary Q&A schema no matter where you might need it to go on the site. This is brilliant as it allows people who aren’t serious web developers capable of handling HTML or JavaScript to add schemas to their sites. For those who are a little more comfortable with coding and have a site built from straight HTML, you will be able to get schemas running with a little work. By manipulating the microdata of your website, you will be able to add schemas to the page. This is fine for just one or two pages, but it can quickly become tiresome if you have an entire site to convert. Here, it might be better for you to instead use a method like JSON-LD.
Add Your Q&A Schemas Now
You must capitalise on schemas like the Q&A markup as soon as you can. If you are able to get into a featured snippet or the Google Knowledge Graph with your schema, there is more of a chance that you will be able to pick up traffic. In particular, more and more consumers are using voice search through their phones and home assistants to find out the answers to questions. Google uses their Knowledge Graph when their own assistants are answering and this too good an opportunity for exposure for you to pass up. With so few companies currently utilising schemas to their fullest, it is important that you don’t miss out. Add them to your Q&A pages today.