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Spider
06-16-2011, 11:52 AM
What do you know about schema.org - Home (http://schema.org) ?

Looks to me like meta tags on steriods!

If <META Name="keywords"...> is ignored because it is spammed, what makes them think <div itemscope itemtype...> won't get spammed, too?

vangogh
06-16-2011, 12:50 PM
Schema.org is a little more complex than meta tags so I don't think it will get spammed quite as easily. It's also not something you could use to stuff keywords in to rank better. It's more along the lines of microformats or microdata where you can better identify what your content is about.

Take the example of a product. If you identify something that's not a product as a product then it's not going to do your site any good even if it does deliver traffic. In fact it would likely hurt where the page ranks for non product related searches.

Will people attempt to spam it? I'm sure some will. It won't be as easy as spamming simple meta tags though. Also keep in mind that with some of these schemas search engines are going to use the data to present your content directly in the search results which in some cases will eliminate the need to click through to your site. For example the location schema. Some might search for your address or maybe addresses in general for a certain type of store. If marked up using the schema search engines can present addresses directly in the search results which would lower click throughs.

The question then is should you use schemas? They will make your content more easily understood by machines, which can be a good thing in helping your content spread and be accessible. It could mean less clicks directly to your site, but I think the tradeoff is probably in your favor if you use these schemas or other microdata like microformats and RDF. The pros of using them likely outweigh the cons.

tylerhutchinson
06-16-2011, 01:23 PM
VG has it dead on! I have nothing to add! :)

websonalized
09-19-2011, 02:14 PM
I think that this formatting benefits the search engines in the short term. Search engines will be able to better categorize content, and most likely will standardize and require these data.

In the long term, I think this will benefit internet users, we'll have better sorted data, but will make the design and implementation fo website a bit more complex. From the positive perspective, I guess we'll just be needed more to keep up wit well done and categorizable professional websites.

the cost of implementation will be on the website supplier side...