Are Schema Useful for Photographers or Bloggers

Trying to get ahead of the competition is one of the things that we constantly have to do online.

And when you are dealing with an ever-growing niche like photography, this need is very high.

More and more photographers are entering the market on a daily basis, with the ease of getting into digital photography today. So I am always looking for ways to stand out from the competition online.

Appearing Different In Search Results

The problem with getting ahead of the competition is that most people have the same information and drive to do so. Therefore, it was with great excitement that I read about Rich Schema recently, which is really a way to appear differently in search results.

That is not to say that all of us can use this method, but it is something definitely worth exploring. So I decided to take a look.

What Are Schema

Schema comes from a joint collaboration of some of the bigger names online and gives us a way of labeling our data and appearing differently in search results.

The main place to get information on this subject is to take a look at the specification which is at Schema.org.

These schemas allow us to, in detail, say what exactly it is we are showing online, and how it should be interpreted.

The beauty is that many search engines are using this data in various ways which can help us stand out from the rest on a page of very similar results on say Google.

Of course, not everyone looks the same on search results, because some people are not taking advantage of basic on-page SEO. This means they don't look great in results anyway with a title and description that will lure people to click.

Examples of Schema We Can Use

If you are reviewing any products online and making money via affiliate links, then review schema could be something that you want to check out.

Cape Town-based Photographer - Photographytoremember says it basically adds simple data to your reviews such as how many stars you gave the product and your name. It also includes the standard meta description and title as shown earlier.

Here is an example of a camera review search result in Google:

As you can clearly see from this example, this stands out just enough from a standard result to make a difference in the number of clicks you might see to your review, and therefore the amount of money that you can earn as an affiliate.

I don't believe there are any definitive results, but this article on the click-through increase shows that it definitely can make a huge difference.

So it is worth a try.

Product Schema

Another area for the average photographer of photography shop that is worth looking into is Product Schema

The search engines can also use this data very easily to highlight products, comparisons, photos, and more. So you should be using these if you have a shop. It certainly cannot hurt.

As you can see above, the detail and images shown by Google can certainly be beneficial if you manage to appear like this in the results.
People, Organisations, and Places

There is also some other schema you can use to highlight parts of your business so that they might appear better in a search result. But I have only seen this used on the side of Google when we are talking about really large companies. However, everything is worth a try when you are differentiating online.

Conclusion

Even for a photographer or photoshop, you need to be looking into each and every way that you can use your website to your advantage and stand out online.

So give a schema ago now!