Ecommerce Schema Explained: How It Works and Tips (2024)

Search engines use site crawlers to understand websites’ content and to index new and updated pages. As a result, they can categorize the pages and direct people to the right ones accordingly. 

But sometimes, search engines need a little help. With so many products, prices, and new content to crawl, ecommerce websites pose a challenge to search engines. Schema markups can help a search engine get a clearer picture of the structure and relevance of your ecommerce site—essential to proper indexing and search result visibility.

Learn more about ecommerce schemas and their impact on organic traffic.

What is structured data?

Structured data is machine-readable code that marks up meaningful elements on a web page. The packaged chunks of contextual information, known as schema code or schema markup, tell search engines what the content means so they can accurately analyze and classify web pages. 

You can add structured data markup to product data shared with Google Merchant Center, which helps Google display accurate information about your products across Google Search, Google Shopping, Google Images, and Google Maps. Structured data can enhance your click-through rate (CTR), which may contribute to improved rankings in Google search results.

How schema appears

You can find schema code inside pages on a website with a standard HTML

Availability

Using availability schema, you can show potential customers whether products are in stock directly on a rich snippet on the search engine results page (SERP). You can also show pre-order information or whether a product is coming soon, in pre-sale, or sold out. Availability schema can be added within the product schema. 

Other schema types to consider

You can add schema for many other types of content that can yield rich results, including: 

• Video schema. You can mark up livestreams and product videos. The markups for video description, thumbnail URL, date, duration, and more can raise visibility in video search, Google Images, and Google Discover.
• Review schema. Review schema adds structural markup to user reviews. It includes information about the reviewer, the rating, and the review content.
• Article schema. This marks up details of blog posts and informational articles—like the headline, author, publication date, FAQs, and article body. 
• News schema. News schema provides context for news-related articles, including the headline, author, publication date, and article body.

Ecommerce schema FAQ

What is schema in ecommerce?

Schema is the description of webpage content in the form of a structured data vocabulary. In ecommerce, a schema type helps Google understand meaningful information such as products, prices, availability, and reviews.

What is a schema example?

A basic product schema for ecommerce includes product markup code to capture information like the name, price, image, and availability. Each attribute consists of a name and a value, like “price” : $79.

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