In a recent update, Google refined the opening paragraph of its Organization Structured Data documentation, providing a clearer and more thorough description of its purpose, highlighting four specific points with greater clarity. This update serves as an excellent example of crafting a high-quality introductory paragraph.
The revised documentation boasts high information density, effectively communicating more information using fewer words. By enhancing information density, it better conveys ideas to the reader.
The update introduces the following four key points:
- Disambiguation: It highlights how organization structured data differentiates one organization from others using attributes such as iso6523 and naics codes, making the organization less ambiguous.
- Visual Influence: It details how certain Schema.org properties can affect visual elements in search results and knowledge panels—informative boxes about organizations or individuals displayed on the right side of search results.
- Enhanced Profiles: It mentions that organization structured data can enrich merchant knowledge panels and brand profiles with specifics about return policies, addresses, and contact information.
- Property Recommendations: The new paragraph states that although there are no mandatory properties for organization structured data, it recommends including as many relevant properties as possible. This emphasis, though not new to the documentation, is now prominently featured in the opening.
These points were absent from the previous opening paragraph, demonstrating the importance of staying on topic to clearly communicate the essence of a web page.
Former Opening Paragraph:
“You can use organization structured data to let Google know about your organization’s administrative details, for example, logo, address, contact information, and business identifiers. Google can make use of this markup in knowledge panels and other visual elements (such as attribution), which helps users to find your organization’s details on Google Search.”
New Opening Paragraph:
“Adding organization structured data to your homepage can help Google better understand your organization’s administrative details and disambiguate your organization in search results. Some properties are used behind the scenes to disambiguate your organization from other organizations (like iso6523 and naics), while others can influence visual elements in Search results (such as which logo is shown in Search results and your knowledge panel). If you’re a merchant, you can influence more details in your merchant knowledge panel and brand profile, such as return policy, address, and contact information. There are no required properties; instead, we recommend adding as many properties that are relevant to your organization.”
This improved opening paragraph significantly enhances the document by clearly setting reader expectations for the content that follows.
Key Takeaways:
Understanding the improvements behind the revised documentation provides publishers and SEOs with new insights into why web pages may need refreshing.
The revised documentation excels by clearly outlining the page’s purpose, the benefits of organization structured data for users, and identifying specific user groups who benefit, particularly merchants. The inviting opening ensures readers comprehend the page’s purpose and encourages further reading.
Reasons for Improvement:
- Higher information density
- Better topical focus (clear document purpose)
- Concise and direct approach
- Provides detailed examples
- More comprehensive coverage
- Identifies beneficiary users (merchants)
Issues with Previous Version:
- Lacked specific details
- Narrow in scope
- Limited actionable information
- Did not adequately prepare the reader for the entire content
By comparing the new and old versions, one can better appreciate the benefits of the refined structured data documentation.
