1

I have recently added several references on my 'about me' page, mainly as digital copies (.jpg). How can I integrate them in the Schema.org markup for this page and its top-level-item Person? What properties are able to create the "connection" to DigitalDocument in my code, in order to confirm the digital copies of my references, which are on the page?

The references are:

  • certification for the completion of a course at an educational organization (course-certification.jpg)
  • legal permission of state office, which allows me to work as alternative healer (permission.jpg)
  • certification for the completion of a healing course at a private educational organization (healing-certification.jpg)
  • article in a print magazine about spirituality (article-dream-interpretation.jpg)
  • article in a woman online magazine, direct link to the article on the site of the magazine
  • public seminar, which I made for a local newspaper (seminar-mz.jpg)
  • author of a book, with author profile on Amazon and an author website, book has an ISBN
  • radio interview with me on "dradio Wissen" (interview.mp3)

The basic markup for the 'about me' page is clear: 

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "AboutPage",
    "@id": "http://www.example.com/aboutme-page"
    "author": ...,
    "publisher": ...,
    "datePublished": "",
    "dateModified": "",
  }
  "name": "my name",
  "jobTitle": "alternative healer",
  "alumniOf": {
    "@type:": "EducationalOrganization",
    "name": "", ...

So I know, that there is for example a property alumniOf → EducationalOrganization and that there is DigitalDocument in Schema.org. But how to get the link to me as Person, who obtained a course certification there, which additionally is on the page as .jpg?

It's similar with the other references. I can use DigitalDocument (or something more specific) for my legal permission as alternative healer, but with what property can I connect this to Person?

Or the book I wrote. I know there is a property author (and a pending property hasProfession), but this needs a CreativeWork as item, not a Person.

Or the online and print articles: Here again, of course I know that there is a Article item and author property, but how to get the "link" to the Person top-level-item and my digital copies?

Do I want something impossible? May be some experts here can at least give me some hints (I don't expect to get a complete code, though I even would pay for it).

unor
  • 92,415
  • 26
  • 211
  • 360
Martinus33
  • 21
  • 3

1 Answers1

1

For most Schema.org properties there is no inverse property defined. But the syntax typically allows to use properties in the "other direction", too.

In JSON-LD, you can use @reverse:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",

  "@reverse": {
    "author": {
      "@type": "Book"
    }
  }

}

So, you only need to find a suitable property, no matter if it has Person as domain or as range. And as Schema.org, of course, doesn’t have properties for everything, you can also use properties from other vocabularies (see how).

Relevant Schema.org issue about your topic:
Educational and Occupational Credentials should be in schema.org

unor
  • 92,415
  • 26
  • 211
  • 360
  • Thanks, I will study the links. Not sure, if I will comprehend it and create a correct code, but I will try a first attempt for one of the references here. May be you could give me an example with one of the references? – Martinus33 Mar 31 '19 at 21:38
  • @Martinus33: The snippet in my answer shows how the "author of a book" case can be represented in JSON-LD. Your question (with the list of all the semantically different properties you would need) is too broad for Stack Overflow. If you find a suitable property, but don’t know how to use it in JSON-LD, you can ask a separate question about this. If you can’t find a suitable property for *one* specific topic, you can ask a separate question about it, but you have to make sure to show what you’ve found/tried (otherwise it might be closed). – unor Mar 31 '19 at 23:06
  • O.K., I understand. So let's stay on the book example you already have given. Basically this is already "all" and done so fare, right? Now I could add some more properties to "book" like "about" (--> topic), ISBN, date Published ect. "Reverse" is pretty cool, never heard of it. I hope Google knows it too? – Martinus33 Apr 01 '19 at 12:42
  • @Martinus33: Yes, you could use it like this. Note that it’s just a syntax feature, semantically it’s as if you would have specified [`Book` `author` `Person`]. Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool supports `@reverse` (it displays the `Book` as top-level item). – unor Apr 01 '19 at 14:41
  • Ouch. That's an important, but unpleasant hint, because finally it's all about semantic correct markup for search engines. And search engines should see "Person" as top-level-item for an aboutme-page, a person, who has several references, which have digital copies on the page. So my plans with Person-markup and integrating references are now becoming really difficult (without "reverse")? What do you think about "Action" as universal solution? For example WritingAction for my book. But this doesn't help for my references with digital copies, I guess. – Martinus33 Apr 01 '19 at 20:53
  • 1
    @Martinus33: I don’t agree that `Person` must be the top-level item -- being the top-level item has no semantic significance. The `mainEntity`/`mainEntityOfPage` property conveys what the primary item is. (That said, there might be consumers who require a certain item to be the top-level item -- I would say this is a bad practice, but if you want to get that consumer’s feature, you’d have to try to comply by restructuring and often also omitting some data). – unor Apr 02 '19 at 00:40
  • You mean, if a person is author of a book, then he is recognizable marked up as the author of this book, independant from what of both is the top-level-item? May be right, but due to Google, schema should reflect the content of a page correctly and display its main content. So, if a page is about a person, introducing himself, and the person is NOT top-level-item (but "book"), isn't this contradicting? Even if Person is mainEntity, which gives "Person" weight? Hm. In my case, due to several "reverse-references" I had even several "non-Person- top-level-items". What would G say, I wonder... – Martinus33 Apr 03 '19 at 17:28