If you have little understanding of the basics in the Information Technology (IT) field, you are not going to have much fun with one of Google’s features — namely, its Structured Data Testing Tool (SDT).
One specific issue has become apparent In our tutorial sessions: trainees do not digest overcomplicated codes.
On 20 May 2015, Google Search Console (GSC) replaced Webmaster Tools (WMT) — GSC and WMT are essentially the same platform, with a different name, and boasting slightly different features.
How It Looks Now…..
… and How It Looked Before!
Introducing SDT
GSC aims to be less complex and more accessible than WMT, at least in theory. As Google says, “(SDT) lets you test a single page’s mark-up for correctness.”
Structured Data Markup is a “standard way to annotate your content so machines can understand it.”
SDT is included in the “other resources” section of GSC; users can test the structured data, while checking if the content of their website has been properly marked up. Life gets easier for Google, which can now read and identify the content more accurately, yet SDT has become less intuitive over the years for users who do not have an IT background.
To name a few, fetch & validate as well as other output features are less immediate than they should be for the average user, in my view.
A couple of key steps here:
- You should learn more about structured data markup by using Google’s markup helper, which is a much more intuitive tool than SDT. The helper clearly shows the HTML output based on your marked-up selection and tags.
- Once that’s done, you will be able to identify the structured data through the relevant tags in the source code of the page — itemprop, itemscope, for example — and you should be able to get a better grasp of the output, and what it actually means!
If you want to discuss a training for your IT team, please get in touch with our team at info@hedgingbeta.com