You maybe heard the term Structured Data already, right? It’s part of technical SEO (as you will learn below) and therefore important for every website that thrives for higher rankings and/or for better search results that perform. So now you’re curious which one is the best Structured Data plugin for WordPress, right? It’s SNIP, the Structured Data Plugin for WordPress, but read on to learn everything about the comparison I did here.

First of all you may recognize that I’m a WordPress plugin developer myself and I’m also the author of SNIP. So it might occur to you that I’m biased. Of course I think that SNIP is the best Structured Data Plugin on earth but as you can read down below I tried to be as fair as possible.

I really struggled writing this post because it’s always difficult to say “this is plugin is good” or “this plugin is bad”. So I wouldn’t say the other plugins are bad. They just don’t do as much as SNIP does.

In the end I compared the things that I would like to see when I would search for the best Structured Data Plugin on the planet.

So read on, have fun and make your own opinion if you want! 😉

What is Structured Data?

I’ve written so many blog posts on this topic. But I’ll try to explain it again in easy words so that everyone can understand it.

Structured Data is some kind of sourcecode that sits on your pages, let’s say a product page. It is not visible by humans but readable by search engines.

The code tells search engines that the current page (in this example) is a product page. This is important because they can’t tell exactly enough when a page is just a blog post with a certain content or a product page where you can actually buy something.

As you can imagine, search engines want to find the best search result for a certain keyword. For example, if a keyword implies that a user wants to see product pages, where it’s possible to buy something, it’s better for search engines to only show them (you guessed it!) search results with actual products.

The reason why Structured Data is hidden to humans is that for us as humans it’s pretty easy to understand that a page is about a product or if it’s a product page where you can buy the product. This is because we’ve learnt that almost all product page have the same “structure”:

• There are one or more product pages.
• There is a product description and a price.
• And an “Add to cart” button.

Of course, search engines could learn that maybe with Deep Learning or AI algorithms but that’s difficult stuff and needs a) much more time and b) a lot of energy as well.

I think for now, that’s enough to know. If you want to dig a little deeper, don’t hesitate and take my Structured Data Training. It’s for free and you can start whenever you want.

What is schema.org?

Maybe one more word on Structured Data itself. Almost all big search engines working together to create one vocabulary that everyone can understand. And for this they created the website schema.org.

This website actually tells you which schemas you can use. I’ve mentioned the Product schema above. But there are even more, of course. On this page you can also find a page that lists all available schemas. You can hop over to their site quickly to see what’s possible at the moment.

Structured Data gets more and more traction. It’s out for more than 8 years now (schema.org was introduced in 2011 already). So it’s not a “hype” anymore. That’s why the schema.org website gets constantly updated ever since.

The different formats

There are different ways how one can markup its content with Structured Data. You’ll learn below why that is important to know. But first, here are the different formats.

Without Structured Data:

SNIP, the Structured Data WordPress Plugin
allows you to create Structured Data right 
within WordPress. 100 Customers that have 
rated the plugin rated it with 4.8 out 
of 5 stars. Its current price is 77 USD. 

As you can see, there is a lot of information in here:

• The name of the product
• A short description.
• A rating.
• And a price.

As I wrote above, it’s difficult to search engines to fetch the exact purpose of a text like this. That’s why we need Structured Data.

Microdata

Don’t be frightened when you see the below code. It’s not the way we use Structured Data nowadays. After taking a look at this code you’ll understand why:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
   <span itemprop="name">SNIP</span>
   <span itemprop="description">Allows you to create Structured Data right within WordPress.</span>
   <div itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
      <span itemprop="ratingValue">4.8</span>
      <span itemprop="bestRating">5</span>
      <span itemprop="ratingCount">100</span>
   </div>
   <div itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer">
      <span itemprop="price">77</span>
      <span itemprop="currencyCode">USD</span>
   </div>
</div>

Looks weird, right? And indeed it has several disadvantages:

• It’s very difficult to read for humans.
• It’s complicated to integrate into the sourcecode (almost impossible to integrate using the WordPress editor).
• Difficult to maintain and update.

What about the other formats?

RDFa

RDFa is another format that can also be included into the sourcecode of a page. Here is how it looks like:

<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Product">
   <span property="name">SNIP</span>
   <span property="description">Allows you to create Structured Data right within WordPress.</span>
   <div property="aggregateRating" vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
      <span property="ratingValue">4.8</span>
      <span property="bestRating">5</span>
      <span property="ratingCount">100</span>
   </div>
   <div property="offers" vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof=="http://schema.org/Offer">
      <span property="price">77</span>
      <span property="currencyCode">USD</span>
   </div>
</div>

As you can see: it’s almost the same. Only the HTML-Tags are different. The same problems here:

• Difficult to read and understand.
• Complicated to integrate into the sourcecode and/or into WordPress.
• Difficult to maintain and update.

Now there is a way easier method. And it’s called:

JSON-LD

JSON-LD is the format that search engines want to see nowadays. If you take a look you can understand why:

    "@context":          "http://schema.org",
    "@type":             "Product",
    "sku":               "Plugin",
    "name":              "SNIP - Structured Data WordPress Plugin",
    "aggregateRating": {
        "@context":      "http://schema.org",
        "@type":         "AggregateRating",
        "ratingValue":   "4.8",
        "bestRating":    "5",
        "reviewCount":   "58",
        "worstRating":   "1"
    },
    "offers": {
        "@context":      "http://schema.org",
        "@type":         "Offer",
        "priceCurrency": "USD",
        "price":         "77",
        "category":      "Plugin"
    },
    "description":       "Allows you to create Structured Data right within WordPress."
}

It has several advantages:

• Only key value pairs.
• Easier to read by humans (and search engines).
• Easier to maintain and update.
• Is decoupled from the actual text. Can be placed anywhere on the page.

Why is Structured Data important?

The next question we need to answer is: why is there a need for a “best Structured Data plugin for WordPress”? Or in other words: Why do I need Structured Data in general?

I’ve also answered this in my Structured Data Training Course. And there in lesson 2: Understand how Structured Data works (see video below, beginning around minute 4):

Some of the schemas in schema.org produce a so called Rich Snippet in search result. A Rich Snippet is a “enriched” search result. Depending on the schema itself and how search engines handle the layout it shows more information than a normal search result.

Here is an example for a search result that shows a recipe:

I guess you can imagine that this can increase your CTR (Click-Through-Rate) tremendously! Your search result stands out! And all the others look bleak.

What does “best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress” mean?

I totally understand that Structured Data is difficult to understand and therefore hard to implement. It’s technical and it needs to be coded. Two things a lot of people are getting afraid of very often.

So I prepared a list of phrases that I think the best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress needs. And here it is:

a) Onboarding

Because it’s very technical, a user should be onboarded in a certain way. It should be easy for a newbie to get started.

b) Provide help

In general the learning curve is steep. Especially for non-technical people. So the plugin should help a user wherever it can. Documentation is the key.

c) Updates

In the past, schema.org and all the search engines have changed a lot. If a user has not the possibility to add structured data types and schema-properties themselves it can be that their schemas get outdated quickly. Waiting for developers to update their plugins may not be enough here.

The plugins that I’ve tested:

I’ve searched the internet and I’ve found the following plugins so far:

1. SNIP – Structured Data Plugin for WordPress
2. Schema App
3. Schema App Lite/LiteX/Scale
4. All In One Schema Rich Snippets (Free)
5. WP Schema Pro (which is the pro version of “All in One Schema Rich Snippets”
6. WP Rich Snippets
7. WP SEO Structured Data Schema
8. WP SEO Structured Data Schema Pro
9. Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP
10. Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP Pro

The comparison: which is the best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress?

Now here it is: the magic table that shows you which one of the above mentioned plugins is the best plugin to create Structured Data in WordPress:

SNIP – Best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress

Here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Built-in Structured Data Generator so that you don’t need to code (you can test it online).
• The generate gives you access to all 800+ Structured Data types that can be found on schema.org.
• All Structured Data can be configured the way you like it. If there is an error, you don’t need a developer. Just change it yourself.
• Global Snippet feature allows to automate Structured Data generation.
• Direct integration with YoastSEO and WooCommerce.
• Has access to WordPress’ database. That makes it easy to integrate third-party data from other plugins that store data there.
• Extensive support by the plugin developer (he permanently gets 5-star ratings on CodeCanyon).
• Permanently updated plugin.
• Users can submit feature requests.
• One time fee with free lifetime updates.
• Free Structured Data Training comes shipped with the plugin.
• Documentation has 76+ articles and still growing.
• Compatible to AMP.

Cons:

• Steep learning curve but free training included.

What customers say:

Flo is just plain out awesome 🙂 Even when bouncing ideas around with him you can see that he never loses focus.

Patrick_D via CodeCanyon about SNIP

I’ve tried no end of schema plugins and they are all problematic one way or another. But this one is perfect. It’s easy to setup and use and has incredible flexibility allowing for perfect schema markup on an individual page/post/product basis. Love it!

rodders39 via CodeCanyon about SNIP

This plugin is indispensable. Schema is so fully featured, and coding so vast that it is overwhelming to the average user.
The tutorial videos are helpful and thorough.
You don’t need to be code-savvy to make this work for you!

barnabyk via CodeCanyon

Schema App (Free Version)

Summary: Unfortunately I cannot recommend to use the free version of this plugin at this point in time. The reason for this is that it produces red errors in Googles Structured Data Tool if there is no image attached to posts. Therefore your Rich Snippets may not show up without fixing it (which you cannot do if you’re not a developer).

You can learn more about errors and warnings on my FAQ pages.

Pros:

• Free version attaches an Article Schema (or one of it’s sub-schemas like BlogPosting to all posts and pages at once.
• Can remove microdata (an old format, see above) from the content.
• Automatically integrates a Product and a Review Schema into WooCommerce product pages. However that can be a problem (see below).
• Plugin is easy to set up (just fill some fields).
• It’s free.

Cons:

• It’s not possible to change the standard schema (i.e. an Article) on a post-by-post basis (free version).
• Article Schemas produce errors in Structured Data Tool because it’s not possible to select a default image.
• Breadcrumb are integrated as Thing-Schemas.
• Integrates both, Product and Review, on WooCommerce product pages that are not linked. That may confuse search engines.
• It’s not possible to manually add new properties to schemas without coding knowledge.
• No support for the free plugin.

Schema App (Lite, LiteX, Scale)

I wasn’t able to test their Schema Editor because you can only get it by paying at least 30 USD a month. So I can only tell the pros and cons according what I’ve seen from their videos:

Pros:

• Schema App Editor allows to create 20+ schemas.
• Has lots of videos and documentation that gets you started.

Cons:

• Steep learning curve.
• Has no access to data that is stored in the WordPress database.
• Schema App Editor returns JSON+LD code that you need to include manually in your sites on a post-by-post basis.
• As far as I understood from this video: they’re using Google Tag Manager to include Structured Data. That might be difficult to crawl for other search engines.
• Monthly fee: 30 to 100 USD (Lite and LiteX) and even more for the “Scale” version
• If you cancel the service, the Structured Data will also be gone.

All in One Schema Rich Snippets

Pros:

• Easy to use by just filling predefined fields.
• Adds human visible data to the frontend (can be useful)

Cons:

• Uses the old “Microdata” format instead of the newer JSON-LD.
• Therefore it outputs layouted data in the frontend that maybe does not fit to your current theme. So you maybe need a developer to get this designed the way you like it.
• No possibility to add custom data to a Structured Data Type (you need to stick with the fields that developers have defined).
• No automation possible. You need to add data on a post-by-post basis.
• Structured data is incomplete. A Review schema, for example, does not produce a Rich Snippet in search results.

WP Schema Pro

WP Schema Pro is the pro version of the “All in One Schema Rich Snippets” plugin. I was not able to actually install and test the plugin. So here is what I found out on their websites:

Pros:

• Can automate Structured Data Generation with rules. At least for the supported schemas.

Cons:

• Still only supports the main Structured Data that produce Rich Snippets, but not more.
• I can’t say when their plugin was last updated. Their last blog post (at this time) was from August 2018 (one year ago).

WP Rich Snippets

WP Rich Snippets is a paid plugin only. I also could not test their plugin so this is what I’ve found out on their websites:

Pros:

• They offer a 30 day money back guarantee.
• Lot’s of additional extensions (that must be purchased on top).
• Documentation has about 35+ articles to help you out (but weren’t updated for years).
• Outputs HTML code on posts and pages that are nicely layouted.

Cons:

• It uses the old Microdata format which is outdated.
• I couldn’t find out when their plugin was last updated. Their latest blog post was from Nov. 2018 (about half year ago).
• Annually fee starting at 69 USD and can rise to 199 USD if you have more sites.
• Only supports basic Structured Data that produce Rich Snippets, not more.
• It seems that you can only use their premium plugins if you purchase the premium version (199 USD per year).
• They charge extra money for most of their addons.
• Some of their addons don’t make sense. For example the WooCommerce Review extension is not necessary because WooCommerce has this built-in.

WP SEO Structured Data Schema

The authors of this plugin also offer a paid product (see below).

Pros:

• Easy to use to use by only filling fields on a post-by-post-basis.
• It seems that it’s constantly updated.

Cons:

• Almost no documentation.
• Only works on posts and pages.
• Structured Data cannot be automated. This only works in the PRO version.
• It’s not possible to add custom properties to schemas.
• Has no access to third party data that is lying in the WordPress database.

WP SEO Structured Data Schema Pro

The authors of the free version also have a pro version. The only difference is that you can “autofill” the fields in the metabox. However I was not able to find out what that exactly means as there is no documentation nor a video that I could watch. For me it seems that “autofill” only means that it can fill fields on a post-by-post basis. It does still not allow you to populate certain structured data to all posts at once for example.

Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP

Pros:

• Under active development.
• Has good documentation.
• Has a setup wizard to get you started.
• Lets you overwrite their Global Snippets.
• Can import from other Structured Data plugins.

Cons:

• Only supports basic Structured Data.
• You cannot add custom properties to their Structured Data.
• Has no access to third party data (like the data from rating plugins).

Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP Pro

This is the pro version of Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP.

Pros:

• Has the same advantages as above.
• Plus: adds compatibility to certain plugins (Yoast SEO, WooCommerce), too.
• Plus: adds AMP compatibility.

Cons:

• See above.

What about the others?

Schema Ninja: During my research I found another plugin called Schema Ninja. It was linked and mentioned in several blog posts that reviewed Structured Data WordPress Plugins, too. However it seems that this one has – more or less – nothing to do with Structured Data. It focusses on displaying product recommendations to site visitors. That’s why it’s not in the list. Link to site.

51Blocks JSON Schema Generator has not been updated over 4 years. Link to the plugin page.

Rating Plugins (KKRating, Purple Heart Rating, etc.) can show star ratings but are not real Structured Data Plugins. Therefore they are not listed here.

SEO Plugins like YoastSEO or The SEO Framework also add some Structured Data for Articles, Carousels for Archive pages, etc. However they’re also not real Structured Data Plugins. So they’re not listed here as well. Also because you cannot edit their schemas without coding knowledge.

Summary

I know what you say now: it was totally clear that SNIP wins the title of the best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress because I’m the owner. But I’m pretty sure you can see very easy why. Some plugins are no longer updated, sell you add-ons that you don’t need or use an outdated format.

Some of them also created errors when I’ve tested their Structured Data with Googles Test Tool. So they don’t help you much because you cannot fix them yourself. This is where SNIP can really shine. If you get an error, you can fix it yourself without any coding knowledge.

This is the first schema plugin that allows absolute control on a post-by-post basis. Support is excellent, and Florian is always open to new ideas to implement to make the plugin even better. Definitely worth every penny and then some.

MChav06 via CodeCanyon about SNIP

SNIP also allows you to automate almost anything and can fetch data from third party plugins that write data into WordPress post meta table. So in most cases you don’t need another add-on to get everything up and running. For example: SNIP can deal with almost every rating plugin out there.

As I wrote above: in this blog post I wanted to be as fair as possible but – of course – it’s my opinion. And it compares everything that I would compare if I would search for a the best Structured Data Plugin for WordPress.

You can see from my CodeCanyon comments that a lot of customers did use other plugins but in the end they ended up using SNIP.

Dude seriously this plugin is worth three times what I paid for it. I tried two other plugins before this and looked over several others. Your plugin does EVERY THING all the other ones do all in one plugin. And slick too. I love how I can use WooCommerce product attributes for my schema!! Also the WooCommerce override works perfectly. THANK YOU!

vacuumsrus via CodeCanyon about SNIP

When to use SNIP, a price comparison

A lot of users don’t want to spend money. That’s totally fine but you cannot expect a lot in return. There is developer that sits down and codes all that for you to use. You need someone that explains Structured Data to you so that you understand how to use it. You need someone who can help you to get errors fixed if you cannot fix them yourself. All that has costs money. Nothing is for free. So I did a little comparison on the price so that you can see what it costs to stay up-to-date using the different plugins.

Here is the pricing table in USD per year: