[suggestion] Adding Schema.org Markup to Themes

tlongren
(@tlongren)

10 years, 2 months ago

Hi,

It’d be awesome if more WordPress theme developers started adding schema.org markup to their themes.

I wrote a quick how-to that shows how to add schema.org markup to pretty much any theme. I thought many of you would find it useful, as it can go a long way in helping Google and other search engines identify content on your site.

http://www.longren.org/add-schema-org-markup-to-any-wordpress-theme/

So, what do you think? Worth adding to themes or should plugins take care of it (I personally don’t like that option)? I’ve gotten the impression that schema.org markup is preferred to OpenGraph, but can’t find the source, so it’s probably false.

Mods, if this isn’t the right place, please delete. Thanks!

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

esmi
(@esmi)

10 years, 2 months ago

Worth adding to themes or should plugins take care of it (I personally don’t like that option)?

This is really plugin territory.

Thread Starter tlongren
(@tlongren)

10 years, 2 months ago

Is it really though? Plugins can’t add the markup directly to the existing HTML tags.

With the schema.org plugins I’ve seen, they all add their own content wrapped in schema.org markup. While if theme devs build it in, it’s actually PART of the theme, which I believe it should be, as it’s part of the HTML of the theme itself.

Most respondents to this poll seem to think it should be handled by theme devs:
http://www.longren.org/add-schema-org-markup-to-any-wordpress-theme/

esmi
(@esmi)

10 years, 2 months ago

If it is added via a theme. then that theme would be effectively locking in the user – which is not allowed in themes submitted to the WPORG Repository.

Thread Starter tlongren
(@tlongren)

10 years, 2 months ago

I get that but using PHP is locking users in, too. I guess I fail to see how having schema.org markup in themes is detrimental to users. It anything, it’s a good thing.

esmi
(@esmi)

10 years, 2 months ago

Sorry? How so? WordPress itself uses PHP, so I don’t see how the use of PHP has anything to do with anything.

Thread Starter tlongren
(@tlongren)

10 years, 2 months ago

Yah that was a terrible example. Guess I’ll just continue developing outside the WPORG Repository.

esmi
(@esmi)

10 years, 2 months ago

If you want to discuss this further as a potential theme feature, you could try posting to http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers

Thread Starter tlongren
(@tlongren)

10 years, 2 months ago

Don’t think I’m up for that kind of discussion this early in the morning. 🙂 I’ll bring it up later this evening. Thanks for the tips @esmi!

Gary Barrett
(@gary-barrett)

9 years, 11 months ago

@esmi – can you elaborate why you believe this should be plugin territory?

There is no lock-in effect for themes using Schema.org for structured markup – as long as it’s for elements, and not for rich snippets (like reviews or recipes), similar to how there’s no lock in effect for Twenty Fourteen using microformats for structured markup.

Several themes in the repo already use Schema, including Stargazer by Justin Tadlock – https://wordpress.org/themes/stargazer

Justin Tadlock
(@greenshady)

9 years, 11 months ago

It’d be impossible for plugins to handle microdata for all themes. Themes vary too wildly in markup to even attempt that. Microdata is just a way of extending the markup of a page. All my themes, including Stargazer mentioned above, are getting this treatment. Markup is theme territory.

Of course, if plugins are outputting data, they can also mark it up using microdata.

George
(@craawlerguys)

9 years, 6 months ago

By seeing this post we did a little search on free WordPress theme that support Schema and we found two

1. Stargazer free wWordPress theme by Justin Tadlock
2. Webify free WordPress theme with schema support by IdeaBox themes

Thread Starter tlongren
(@tlongren)

9 years, 5 months ago

Lots of people have liked my article about integrating schema.org into child themes.

I just wrote a similar piece for adding schema.org markup to WooCommerce products, if anyone is interested:
https://longren.io/add-schema-org-markup-to-woocommerce-products/