Schema Markup is coding you incorporate to your website to help search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. return more informative results about your website and services to users. From restaurant menus to special events, there is a schema markup code for just about anything you can think of. Google has announced that they have begun to start using/supporting a new markup code that coincides with Google Assistant and Google Home. This markup code, speakable specification, is to help the Google Assistant and Google Home choose which content to read aloud depending on the type of search query that was asked. While this announcement is fairly new, it is an important one as it will tell you what you will need to know on how to get more traffic to your site via speaking methods and devices (Google Home) when the search engine giant eventually expands this structured data to websites across the web.
What Does It Cover Currently & Who Can Use It?
As of now, the schema markup code is limited to only news-type content but will ultimately expand to more types of content as speaking assistants are becoming more popular with searching. It is a safe bet to monitor how Google ends up using this code and how it works so you can properly apply it to your own website when the time comes.
With this being a new program that is being tested, the beta speakable specification markup is limited to only Google Home devices in the United States and in English. While Google continues to test this new markup, they will most certainly open it up to a wider range of devices and languages.
Prepping Speakable Content To Be Chosen By Google Assistant
When it comes to choosing content after a query is asked, Google Assistant & Google Home use an algorithm to formulate the best possible answer. When it comes to news, since the speakable specification is currently tailored towards news, these devices evaluate the request against trending and current news topics before picking content to answer the request.
With this in mind, it is important to prepare your content to have the best possible outcome with the use of Google Assistant. You can do this by using the article schema markup so that the content piece is precise about what the content is about. After you properly define this, you can start to markup sections of your article for the new speakable specification schema markup code. This way the algorithm used by Google Assistant can find your article after a particular query is requested, and if it matches the type of query, the speakable specification markup will be used to find the answer within your content.