Schema tags demystified

[gfiedel]

I am looking for a basic description of the use for schema tags and how and in what circumstances they are best applied. I have found a few resources such as schema.org and here on this forum, but find I still need a basics lesson and subsequently, some ways to execute. The Raven plugin appears to make the code visible to the viewer which seems unacceptable...Guess I'm just a bit stumped! Thanks in advance for any available hand-holding on this. ;o)

[gfiedel]

Thank you, Dana. I will read those posts and I appreciate hearing that someone like you is also mystified.

[gfiedel]

Thank you, Dana. I will read those posts and I appreciate hearing that someone like you is also mystified.

[danatanseo]

I think the best source I've come across about truly 'demystifying" structured data is Richard Baxter. He did a really great Mozinar a few months ago that had some great information and "how-to's" with real-life examples: http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/microformats-real-life-use-cases

He also wrote a great blog post: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/schemaorg-a-new-approach-to-structured-data-for-seo

and I think there's an even more recent blog post from Richard on the subject that I can't seem to find at the moment. Perhaps someone here can point us in the right direction?

I would paraphrase some of what Richard has to say, but I'm still mystified and struggling with how to markup my site content properly, so I'd better let Richard do the talking

Dana