What Is Schema Data and How Can It Help Your MSP Marketing?

There are three basic forms of SEO—Technical SEO, On-Page SEO, and Off-Page SEO. On-page SEO is the content you create to solve people’s problems. Off-Page SEO are things you are doing outside of your website to increase your visibility. Technical SEO are the things you do in the “backend” of the website, and while not as prominent as the content, it is just as important. Schema Markup (Structured Data) should be part of your technical SEO, as it can provide your MSP website the visibility it needs to stand out from the competition.

What is Schema Markup? 

Schema markup (schema.org) or structured data is code on your website whose goal is to help search engines and, therefore, searchers better understand what your website is about. The purpose of schema markup is to allow search engines such as Google and Bing to comprehend the relationship between the content, menus, and other entities on your website. When Google, for example, feels your website is the best answer to a search query, it “reads” the schema data and may display your website as a Rich Snippet.

Think of it as a standardized language for certain common website elements, such as reviews, recipes, products, and authors.

According to Google, structured data can be used to enable special search result features and enhancements, such as video, star reviews, and search options. Here’s an example of a rich snippet with structure data activated. It should be easy to see how a rich snippet could benefit a business due to the level of attention it garners and the information provided. 

How Does Schema Markup Help Your MSP’s SEO?

Like most technical SEO, the effects of schema markup are often behind the scenes and depend on whether or not Google decides to take notice. If they do and your website is granted a rich snippet, the result can be dramatic for your MSP website by increasing your CTR (click-through rate). The more people click on your link and visit your site, the more opportunities you have to obtain conversions.

Schema markup improves your ranking, similar to the way featured snippets do. Due to the visibility granted, a rich snippet increases the chance that a potential lead may see your webpage before your competitor and click on your link first. There are dozens if not hundreds of competitors in the realm; having your website be more prominent can make all the difference between getting a call or not. 

The hardest pill to swallow, however, is that having the schema in place and doing everything correctly doesn’t necessarily mean that Google is going to use it. In most cases, in fact, Google will ignore it. That said, having it means there is a small chance that a piece of content will display with a snippet for a particular set of search queries, and when it does, that can be huge. The key is to keep building up your content and answering questions your ideal audience might have about your services. Give Google more opportunities to use your site to provide the answers your audience is searching for.

What Types of Schema Markup Should Your MSP Website Have?

While there is a variety of schema markup you can use, you should make an effort to customize them to your business and not load your website with schema data you don't need. Remember, a streamlined website is a fast website. Here are three basic schema data types you should consider implementing, as they provide tangible value to your SEO strategy.

Local Business. As we continue to say, all search is local, and as such is it important that your MSP be found on a local search. The more information you can provide to local searchers, the more opportunities you can generate for your business. When you utilize schema markup for local business structured data, your business hours, services offered, prices, reviews, and more are shown to searchers when your business results from a search. The more information potential customers have, the more likely they are to contact you.

Reviews: Social proof, such as testimonials, can be reassuring when it comes to potential customers willing to take a chance on your business. As the "word of mouth" of the digital age, reviews fulfill the "T" portion of your E.A.T. strategy, giving your website "Trust."

Reviews and testimonials give search engines such as Google the confidence to provide the services you're offering because you have customers “vouching” for you. In turn, Google rewards your website with a higher page rank, which in turn increases your visibility and opportunities to attract customers' attention. One reason why your competitors could be outranking your website is that they have a stronger E.A.T ratio.

F.A.Q.: Frequently Asked Questions: Managed IT isn't a well-known service, and as you can imagine, when potential customers are considering investing in your MSP solutions, they may not precisely know what they are signing up for. The lack of information may lead to a level of hesitancy when they consider contacting you. Your F.A.Q. can be the perfect opportunity to help “sell” your services by explaining what they are and answering the questions a typical lead may have. 

Your F.A.Q. also benefits your SEO because it has the potential to be shown as a featured snippet. SEO focuses on the user experience, and anything you can do to improve your customer's experience will help your SEO. Additional benefits include providing information to help customers make decisions, free your team from answering redundant questions, and, of course, increase your online presence in the search engines.

Are You Giving Your MSP Website All the SEO Tools It Needs?

In order for your website to be successful and drive traffic, your MSP needs to generate leads and grow. SEO is the most effective method you can use to achieve this goal. However, SEO is much more than writing MSP or Managed IT on all the pages of your website. In order for your MSP website to be successful, you must take advantage of your entire SEO toolbox. 

If you’re not sure if your on-page, off-page, or technical SEO is up to the task, schedule an appointment with us today to discuss your SEO. We have several services to help market your MSP, including lead generation. Call 888-546-4384 today.