The original methodology was an 8-page Google doc and has been reformatted into collapsible sections successful the Methodology conception of the original schema study.
For the liking of context, I’ll see the shorter type of it here.
A inheritance of our agency and the study
A speedy inheritance of our agency gives much discourse to the study and why this manufacture was chosen for the experiment.
We’re a integer trading agency for landscaping and section attraction businesses (as good arsenic different greenish and outdoor surviving businesses). Our clients are strictly section and are highly akin successful scale, strategy, and services.
On apical of this, we require astir each caller clients to person their tract built aliases rebuilt by america utilizing a templated tract taxable we built connected WordPress. The only existent quality betwixt the sites is the branding, images, content, and localization.
The intent of this study was to find whether aliases not schema markup was an effective method for improving rank for our clients, fixed their section business classification.
The schema markup we used
One of the main considerations for this was determining which schema to use. While immoderate customer sites had blog posts, FAQs, and occupation listing pages, others did not. We needed schema markup that could beryllium accordant pinch each trial subject.
So pinch that, we went pinch LocalBusiness markup from schema.org. We had moreover consulted pinch Jarno Van Driel, Yoast, and Moz connected the items and types wrong the LocalBusiness markup to beryllium utilized successful this study.
The biggest information successful the schema markup utilized was the thought that we wanted to isolate the specified truth of the schema being added to the site, which affects rank, and not the thought that a higher click-through-rate (CTR) done rich | snippets affects rank.
Aside from JobPosting schema, location isn’t overmuch successful the section work manufacture that produces rich | results, particularly pinch FAQ rich | snippets being deprecated completely and only utilized connected authorities and wellness organizations after August of 2023.
With that successful mind, we avoided immoderate schema markup that aided successful producing rich | snippets that were still applicable, specified as priceRange or reviewRating schema.
The afloat markup utilized tin be recovered successful the original study nether the “Methodology” section.
The pre-test & customer sorting
With immoderate controlled experiment, the hardest portion is determining subjects that are eligible for the test. Out of our 50 clients, we recovered 29 that were eligible.
These 29 were:
- Only connected our base-level SEO services
- Located successful the US
- Had a tract built by america (WordPress utilizing Divi)
- Were not producing caller aliases regular content
- Had been continuously moving pinch america for six months aliases longer
These 29 clients would past beryllium sorted into 2 groups:
- Control Group
- Test Group
The Control Group would person each SEO efforts paused and nary schema added to their site. The Test Group would besides person each of their SEO efforts paused; only this group would person the LocalBusiness schema.
A unsocial situation pinch our manufacture is that hunt measurement and title are seasonal. Knowing that we were conducting this research betwixt February and April, it’d beryllium landing correct astatine the opening of the outpouring rush. Our Southern clients don’t consciousness that unreserved arsenic overmuch arsenic our Northern clients coming retired of a snowy winter.
To power the seasonal variable, we’d guarantee some the power and trial groups would person an adjacent number of clients successful various US geographical locations.
