What Is MicroData?

Written by Indicative Team

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MicroData Defined

Microdata is a type of specification language, which is embedded within one of three code languages, to help improve search engine optimization, including analyzing web pages and improving machine readability.

Microdata works by wrapping a snippet of machine-readable code, which allows the assigning of labels to identify individual pieces of content. This in turn allows search engine crawlers to read and understand relevant information, helping  major search engines  to better understand website content and use it to provide the best possible results for search engine users.

The snippet of code does not impact the syntax of the browser or document.

Integrating microdata into a website’s code offers a number of potential advantages including:

  • Giving search-engine crawlers more context for the type of information on a website and the way the site should be indexed and ranked. 
  • Creating “rich snippets,” which display more information on the search result pages than traditional listings. 

The information that microdata can identify includes but is not limited to:

  • Images
  • Authors
  • Date published
  • Date last modified
  • Headlines
  • Formats (i.e. blog)
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Reviews

In Data Defined, we help make the complex world of data more accessible by explaining some of the most complex aspects of the field.

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