Schema’s pretty important for a new brand looking to penetrate a market. It’s even more important for Seed stage and Series A stage startups looking to get that next round of funding.
Why is Schema important for Seed stage startups?
Because when VCs and Angels do their due diligence, one of the things they look at is online presence and brand authority. Long story short, they want to make sure you’re legit in every way. And if you have a strong online presence organically, it’s going to make your customer acquisition costs significantly more efficient, which in turn makes their potential investment in you significantly less risky. The less risky you are as a potential investment, the more likely you are to get that funding.
So how exactly does schema help startups?
Schema can help Google (and other search engines like Bing) understand who your brand is. Long story short, websites are all built different, which makes it harder for search engines to find, read, and understand all the content on a website. Schema acts as a little cue card that tells them all the necessary information about your brand.
When Panther Labs combined schema with Google My Business, they took up 99% of the search results anytime someone Googled “Panther Labs.” You also see related topics on top of the search results including info about their stock price, careers page, and Glassdoor reviews.
When you properly add schema to your website, Google will start rewarding you with more real estate on their search results. It’s like having a branded billboard ad on Google, for free.
Having a strong online presence (and a dedicated, branded search results page on Google) is a great indicator that your brand is “sticky” (or easy to remember and hard to ignore). Having an organic presence will help make your future acquisition costs more efficient, and give you an extra polish when VCs and Angel Investors do their due diligence.
