Patience Jones

If you’ve never heard of structured data markup, you’re not alone. Ten years ago, Google, Bing, and Yahoo joined forces to create a system that would make search engine optimization more standardized. This year, structured data is taking center stage in search optimization efforts, and websites that don’t use it will struggle to maintain visibility in search engines. Here’s a basic overview of what structured data markup is and how law firms can use it to improve their search engine optimization.

What Is Structured Data Markup?

Structured data markup, also known as structured data or schema markup, is code that signals information to search engines like Google. “How much more information does Google possibly need?” you ask. The answer appears to be: more. Search engines have big dreams. They want to know how everything is connected, who the utmost authority is on every topic, and how to deliver a person the exact results that they want. Think of a search engine as an overeager student who is desperate to please the teacher. In order to always have their hand raised with the right answer, search engines need to be able to make sense of all of the 1.2 million terabytes (and growing) of information that’s currently on the internet.

To help search engines make these connections, structured data both confirms information that’s already on your site (like the name of your firm) and conveys additional information that search engines can use to determine how your site relates to other information on the web. For example, let’s say your website has a LinkedIn icon that takes web visitors to your LinkedIn page. Without structured data markup, search engines do not necessarily connect that the law firm represented by the website is the same law firm represented on your law firm page. Structured data markup provides a way for you to tell search engines “this law firm is the same law firm with this LinkedIn page.” 

That information in turn allows search engines to make assessments about what kind of law you practice and who your content is relevant for. If your firm practices international arbitration, for example, and you use structured data to connect your website and LinkedIn, search engines can conclude that your firm really does provide international arbitration services. They can also have a more thorough picture of your firm when deciding how and when to display it in search engine results.

What Kinds of Information Are Included in Structured Data Markup? 

The list of possible structured data markup fields is maintained at Schema.org. It is based on a hierarchy that makes sense to search engines and programmers but can seem overly complex and nonsensical to everyone else. If there is a piece of information that might possibly be on a website, you can safely assume that there is a way to account for it in the schema. This includes information about:

1. Location, including address, cross streets, city, neighborhood, county, ZIP code, state, region, and country
2. Hours of operation and forms of payment
3. Practice descriptions
4. Awards and publications
5. Attorney bios
6. Corporate structure
7. Founding information and history
8. Parent companies and subsidiaries

Does Structured Data Markup Change How My Website Appears in Search Engine Results?

Yes and no. The best way to understand how structured data results are seen is to search for a recipe (“chocolate chip cookie recipe”). At the top of your search results page, you’ll see boxes that show recipes. These are called “rich snippets.” Each rich snippet includes an image, a star rating, the number of reviews the recipe has received, and the beginning of the ingredients list. Below these rich snippets are “regular” search engine results that appear as links with a little bit of text. Structured data markup is what causes the rich snippets to display. At each of those websites, someone has entered code that tells search engines what image to display, how many ratings and reviews the recipe has received, the ingredients, and the instructions (at a minimum). This system works really well for certain types of consumer-based searches, like recipes, movies, or products. At the moment, they don’t work as well for other types of businesses. Search engines haven’t prioritized other types of businesses (like law firms) in rich snippets, and in order to have rich snippets display, information like reviews and images must be included in the structured data markup. Until enough firms include that information or search engines decide to display a different kind of rich snippet, structured data markup probably isn’t going to visually impact how your firm’s website is displayed in search results. 

How Does Structured Data Markup Help Law Firms?

Even though law firms aren’t likely to be eligible for rich snippets, the additional information structured data markup provides is very valuable in helping search engines understand what your firm does and who is likely to be looking for your services. It can be used to help broaden or narrow the geographic area of prospective clients, clarify business hours and accessibility, or convey that your firm is multilingual. It also helps showcase subject matter knowledge; if an attorney has written articles and spoken on a particular topic, for example, search engines will now understand that and be more likely to return your firm as a search engine result for someone searching for that topic. Additionally, search engines plan to expand the fields that are used for rich snippets, so by completing all of the relevant schemas now you’ll be well-positioned to benefit from them. Structured data markup is an “under the hood” improvement for law firm websites that presents significant opportunities for increased visibility.

What Are the Things That Law Firms Should Be Aware Of When Adding Structured Data Markup?

The first thing law firms should know is that structured data markup is not something that can be done by pushing a button. It can be a confusing process that requires critical thought to determine what’s relevant and how information will be perceived by search engines. One example of this is the schema fields for gender, height, and weight of a person, which were designed for websites featuring models, actors, and other talent. Simply following the schema tree, though, means your website could include markup for the gender, height, and weight of each of your attorneys - an undesirable outcome to say the least. Additionally, some of the dependencies Schema.org has made between fields require you to enter information about an attorney’s salary if you also want to enter information about other aspects of their practice. This requires finding another way to introduce that practice information, because telling Google how much each of your attorneys earns is a non-starter.

Performing structured data markup also requires testing using validation tools from each of the search engines to make sure the markup doesn’t violate the search engine’s rules; this can result in the website being deindexed (removed from search engine results completely). Penalties can be earned for putting information in the wrong field type and including information that is not visible on the page (the search engine version of the “four corners” rule).

Structured data markup is not specifically addressed in the ABA Model Rules, but it’s safe to assume Rule 7.1 prohibiting the use of false or misleading information would apply (and Google, Bing, and Yahoo also prohibit this). Where it can get somewhat gray is in the use of any schema (which are constantly evolving) that explicitly or implicitly connote specialization, as this could potentially violate Rule 7.2. 

How Do I Add Structured Data Markup to My Law Firm’s Website?

The structured data markup will need to be added to the code of your website. There are a number of plug-ins available that in theory remove the need to alter the site code, but if you go this route you need to make sure the plug-in's structured data fields are relevant to your firm and the plug-in doesn't violate Google's terms of service or cause bloat on your site (which can make your site load slower and have negative consequences for search optimization)