Users of Prestashop, the popular open source e-commerce package that powers over 100,000 shops, now have easy access to semantic markup through the release of a free extension module from Makolab S.A. The extension adds markup from the GoodRelations vocabulary using RDFa syntax to the product item page templates.
SEO Benefits
By implementing the extension, shop owners will have in each product page:
- Support for Google Rich Snippets
- Rich relevance signals that will be picked up by search engines
- Pages ready for consumption by additional RDFa- and Linked-Data-aware browser extensions, services, semantic search engines, and mobile applications
Martin Hepp, inventor of the GoodRelations vocabulary for e-commerce, stresses that it is not just about Rich Snippets: “While rich snippets are a powerful immediate effect of adding GoodRelations in RDFa, they are only the first of many benefits for a site owner. The GoodRelations markup is being consumed by all major search engines for a multiplicity of uses, including the use as fine-grained relevance signals. So when adding GoodRelations to your shop, you not only feed rich snippets in Google, but you also send very rich information to the search engine relevant to specific user queries, e.g. based on payment options, location, delivery charges, etc.”
And this is still only the beginning of wider consumption of GoodRelations data: “While Google and the other main search engines are the obvious first consumers, there are numerous start-ups working on browser extensions, mobile applications, or semantic search engines that will ingest and use GoodRelations data from your site to articulate your value proposition to them.” To learn more about the benefits, see Hepp’s article, “GoodRelations for Semantic SEO.”
Dr. Mirek Sopek, CEO of Makolab adds, “For Makolab, the Prestashop extension is an important step into the field of Semantic SEO. We have already been leading a pilot case with Renault UK on using GoodRelations for their merchandise shops with great success. For us, GoodRelations for marketing with structured data is an essential component of any e-commerce strategy.”
Ease of Implementation
Hepp stresses the importance of this free module for the wide adoption of structured markup in e-commerce: “Extension modules to shop software packages are among the most powerful levers for fostering the use of RDFa in e-commerce, because they greatly simplify the task of adding GoodRelations (or schema.org). One properly written module will be installed in 15 – 30 minutes, even on critical live systems and they usually expose more granular and more reliable data than hand-crafted markup created by Web developers who are still new to the field of Semantic SEO. In this case, the market opportunity is huge – Prestashop is definitely among the most popular packages for serious Web shops with more than 100,000 installations, and the new extension module makes it a lunchtime task to add Semantic SEO to a shop site.”
A sample shop with the extension enabled is available at http://shop.goodrelations.pl/.
The extension module is available at http://addons.prestashop.com/de/seo/3866-goodrelations.html.
(NOTE: Registration to the Prestashop community system is required in order to see the download link)
Martin Hepp will lead a plenary panel at the upcoming SemTechBiz – Berlin Conference discussing “Semantics in the Automotive Industry.”
