During a weekly SEO questionnaire session hosted by Search Engine Journal, a user inquired: “How long does it take for schema to appear on a SERP?”
Let’s explore the key points in the expert response to this question, including the clarifications about schema’s role in SEO, as posted by searchenginejournal.com.
What is Schema Markup?
Before discussing how long schema markup takes to impact ranking, it’s important to understand what and why it matters. Schema markup, a type of structured data, refers to the code applied to a webpage’s HTML that helps search engines understand the meaning behind the site’s content. By implementing structured data, website owners can provide additional context about a specific piece of content – such as whether the page contains a review, recipe, event, or product.
It’s important to note that while schema markup doesn’t directly influence rankings, it plays a crucial role in generating rich snippets. These are special search results features that include details such as ratings, reviews, and opening hours. Rich snippets can significantly enhance the appearance of your site’s results with additional information, boosting organic traffic and click-through rates.
Learn how schema impacts your search results — check out our blog!
How Quickly Does Schema Go Live?
Schema becomes live on search engine results as soon as it refreshes the current version of the page. This process involves crawling and updating its index with the new schema code.
For authoritative sites that are frequently crawled and refreshed, this update can be completed within a few hours. However, for lesser authoritative or newer sites, it could take anywhere from a week to two weeks. Since implementing structured data requires technical knowledge and expertise, businesses can work with website development services to ensure proper set up and compliance with search engine guidelines.
Debunking Schema Myths
A common misconception is that structured data serves as a ranking signal or a quick fix that automatically improves your rankings. This is not true. For example, FAQ schema (which is no longer supported by Google) does not help your page rank higher or secure a spot in the “People Also Ask” section. Instead, it helps search engines know when to display relevant questions under your listing, thus extending the depth of your listing.
If your site isn’t ranking well, adding structured data won’t magically fix underlying issues such as poor content quality or slow loading speed. However, if your content is already performing well and ranking, implementing schema markup can help increase visibility in the form of rich snippets, featured snippets, and other enhanced search results.
Key Benefits of Structured Data
- Recipe Sites – For recipe websites with good UX and high trust, it can help the recipes appear in a carousel at the top of the SERPs, increasing visibility and potentially traffic.
- Video Object Schema – If your page is primarily focused on video content, using video schema helps search engines understand that your video matches the page’s topic. This could help your video show up in video-specific search results or other enhanced areas like “People Also Ask” or “Things to Know.”
- Voice search – It can also enhance voice search, which you can explore in more detail here.
The True Purpose of Structured Data
Structured data is designed to help search engines better understand the content of your page. Here’s what it is intended to do:
- Clarify what your page is about, including main topics, sections, and content.
- Providing details on who created the content or who should be credited for the information.
- It informs search engines about the queries your page is most relevant for. This could include informational content, services, e-commerce, reviews, music, images, and more.
- Determine which type of users would have the best experience on your page based on their queries.
- It allows you to specify where, when, and which type of audience is best suited for your services. For example, a local business can use structured data to indicate the areas served, operating hours, and seasonal modifications for its users.
In short, schema markup does not instantly impact rankings, but it can improve visibility once search engines crawl and index the page. However, if your website lacks authority or trust, it is unlikely to provide a significant boost. How quickly the schema goes live depends on how often your site is crawled and updated by search engines. After implementation, you can use the Google Search Console to check updates in the refresh and discover report page. The Discover report shows when Google is trying to find new pages, while the Refresh report indicates when Google is updating content on existing pages. The data on these reports can help you track when the changes are reflected.
While schema doesn’t directly impact rankings, it aids search algorithms in better understanding your content, potentially leading to increased visibility in rich results, featured snippets, and other enhancements. Essentially, structured data serves as a communication tool with search engines, not a shortcut to higher rankings. To maximize its benefits, businesses should consider partnering with professional SEO services to enhance visibility, drive traffic, and improve search engine rankings.
