there’s this whole world out there in SEO beyond just those pretty rich snippets.
Don’t get me wrong they’re fantastic for grabbing attention but the real magic happens when you dig deeper into structured data’s potential.
It’s about letting search engines really understand what your website is all about.
Think of it like this: you’re trying to get a robot to understand a complex story.
Without structured data you’re just throwing a bunch of words at it.
With structured data you’re giving the robot clues like “This is a person” “This is a location” “This is an event” and so on.
Suddenly the story becomes much clearer.
A Real-World Case: BoatTrip Structured Data on Ferry Routes
Let me tell you about this project I worked on recently.
We wanted to see if we could boost organic traffic to a travel website’s ferry route pages by adding BoatTrip structured data.
This particular type of structured data is fairly new.
It’s designed to give Google very specific details about commercial ferry trips like the departure and arrival times ports and even the type of boat.
The idea was that if we could give Google a more detailed picture of what these ferry routes were all about it would be more likely to show them in search results for relevant queries.
I’ll be honest I was a little skeptical at first but the data just blew me away.
The Experiment: SplitSignal to the Rescue
We set up a controlled experiment using SplitSignal which is a fantastic tool for running A/B tests in SEO.
We chose about 1500 ferry route pages on the website for the experiment.
Now we couldn’t just directly compare the control group pages to the ones with the new structured data.
Why? Because you have to account for other factors that might be influencing traffic like seasonal changes or general trends.
SplitSignal solves this problem by creating a model that predicts what would have happened to the control group pages if we hadn’t made any changes.
This way we can compare the actual data from our tested pages to what the model predicts for the control group.
It’s like having a crystal ball for your SEO tests!
Adding BoatTrip Structured Data: The Results
here’s the juicy part.
We added BoatTrip structured data to the test group pages and tracked everything over 28 days.
Googlebot was busy visiting over 92% of the pages during this period.
And what did we find? A whopping 5.2% increase in organic clicks to the tested pages! This is not just a little bump; it’s a significant improvement.
The best part? The results were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.
That means we can be pretty darn sure that the BoatTrip structured data is the reason for the increase in clicks.
We even saw the confidence level climb to 99% as the test progressed!
Digging Deeper into the Data
It wasn’t just about clicks though.
We also saw a rise in impressions for the tested pages which means they were appearing higher in search results.
We were able to improve page positioning and visibility across a broader range of search terms.
This is the power of giving Google the right context.
By providing detailed information through structured data we helped Google understand the content better and match it with user search intent.
What We Learned from the Experiment
The results of this experiment confirmed our initial hunch: structured data is more than just a pretty face.
It can have a real measurable impact on SEO performance.
It’s a powerful tool that can help you enhance your website’s visibility and organic traffic.
Key Takeaways:
- Structured data can boost organic traffic beyond just rich snippets: In this case the BoatTrip structured data didn’t even create rich snippets but it still boosted traffic.
- Context is king: By providing more specific details about the ferry routes through structured data we allowed Google to understand the content better and match it with relevant searches.
- Experimentation is essential: Each website is unique. You need to run your own tests to figure out what works best for your content and audience.
The Future of Structured Data in SEO
This experiment was just a small glimpse into the vast potential of structured data.
As search engines become more sophisticated the importance of providing them with clear and structured information will only increase.
We’re already seeing this in other areas of SEO.
For example there’s a growing focus on entities and knowledge graphs which rely heavily on structured data.
Think of it as a new language for SEO. You need to speak this language to stand out and be understood by the search engines. The more information you can give them the better they can understand your website and serve it up to the right users.
So if you’re looking for a way to boost your SEO performance don’t just focus on creating pretty rich snippets.
Dig deeper and explore the power of structured data.
I promise it’s worth it.