How To Markup Software App Data?

The Schema Markup is a magical code used for marking up data related to software apps. The Schema Markup marks up software application information in the said web page’s body for a better display of your app details on Google.

HOW DO I ADD THE SCHEMA MARKUP?

For Adding the Schema Markup follow the below-listed steps:

1. Specify the required properties using JSON-LD structured data.
2. Abide the Structured data guidelines.
3. Validate your structured data code using the Rich Results Test.
4. Deploy your structured data pages and use the URL inspection tool for testing how Google sees the page. Make sure your page is Google accessible and not blocked by robot.texts, the .noindex tag or login requirements. If the page is ok, then let Google recrawl the URLs
5. Submit a sitemap for informing Google about future website related changes.

WHAT ARE THE STRUCTURED DATA GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW?

Your app to be eligible and appear as a rich result, follow the following guidelines:

• General Structured data Guidelines
• Webmaster Guidelines

The General Structured Data Guidelines are mentioned in detail in the first post of the series.

WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS STRUCTURED DATA PROPERTIES OF THE MARKUP?

The main entity of the markup is SoftwareApplication, holding the below-listed properties:

• Name: The entity holds the name of the app.

• Offers.price: Holds the various offers to sell the app. For developers, offers usually mean the marketplaces carrying the application and for marketplaces offers is used for indicating the app’s price.

• Rating or Review: The rating or review of the app.

You must include one of the below-listed properties:

• Aggregate Rating
• Review
• ApplicationCategory: The entity holds the value of the app. It states the type of the app. The said value must be a supported app type. Example: Whether it is a business app or game application.
• OperatingSystem: It mentions the operating system required for the said app’s usage. Example: Windows 7, Android 1.6, etc.)

PRO TIP: Google Supports Mobile Applications (mobile application) and Web Applications (WebApplication).

       HOW TO FIX TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS?

• For problems related to errors in structured data, Google provides a list of structured data errors.
• You can try the Troubleshoot missing Rich Results Test/ Drop-in total rich results test.
• Check the Webmaster FAQ FOR general questions related to Crawling and Indexing.
• You can always pop questions in the Webmaster Office Hours.
• Or Post questions in the Webmaster Forum.

In the next post of the All About Structured Data Series, I will talk about the Event Data Structure Markup