This “Speaker Preview” interview introduces Jonathan Goodman (Halyard Consulting) ahead of his Affiliate Summit East 2013 session in Philadelphia, “Schema: The Future of Affiliate Marketing” (Monday, Aug 19, 4:40–4:58 pm; intermediate level; VIP/All Access).

Jonathan explains that schema/semantic markup is the next major evolution in search after backlinks and content. It helps search engines understand what a page is actually about (using the “Apple” example: fruit vs. the company) by adding structured markup to page content. For affiliate marketers, schema matters because:

• It can improve organic visibility and help search engines better interpret product-focused pages.
• It can change how listings appear on the search results page (richer, more detailed displays), influencing click-through rates and conversions.
• An incorrect or missing schema could mean missed opportunities or exclusion from enhanced search features.

His talk is positioned as practical: he plans to walk attendees from basic concepts to implementing schema, including easier paths for WordPress users and guidance on pulling markup patterns from schema.org and applying them to pages.