What 3D models do for SEO, and where they don't help

We sell 3D models, so we have an interest in saying that 3D improves rankings. Google's documentation does not support that claim, and anyone who checks it will see that. This article sets out what the documentation does say.

Whether Google indexes the model itself

Google does not index a 3D model in the way most people mean by the question. A glTF or USDZ file on your server is a binary asset. Google can crawl the URL, but we have found no evidence or documentation that it extracts meaning from the geometry, the materials or the look of the model, as it does from text and increasingly from images.

Google can read everything around the model, which means the heading, the description, the specifications, the alt text on any poster image and the structured data on the product. A page with only photographs gives it the same set of signals. The model adds one more asset to the page and no new kind of readable content.

Structured data for 3D models

Schema.org has a type for it. 3DModel sits in the hierarchy Thing > CreativeWork > MediaObject > 3DModel. Its properties include `encoding`, which links to the MediaObject that holds the file, and `isResizable`, described as whether the model "allows resizing", which room layout applications often disallow to reflect reality.

You can therefore mark a model up correctly. Today the markup gets you nothing in search. Google publishes the complete list of structured data features it supports in the search gallery. The list runs from Article and Breadcrumb through Product, Review snippet and Video. It has no 3D model feature, no AR feature, and no entry that corresponds to schema.org 3DModel.

Adding 3DModel markup will therefore not produce a rich result, and nothing Google has documented says it changes how you rank. It is still reasonable to add. The markup is accurate and costs nothing, and if Google ever adds a feature your pages are already marked up. Just don't budget for it as an SEO tactic.

The markup that does get you something is ordinary Product markup with price, availability and reviews. Google supports it and it changes how the result looks, so check that yours is correct before spending time on 3D markup.

The effect of a 3D model on page speed

A 3D model is a heavy asset. A poorly implemented viewer loads a multi-megabyte file and a JavaScript library before the page is interactive, and that shows up in Core Web Vitals.

Google's page experience documentation says Core Web Vitals "are used by our ranking systems". It also states there is "no single signal" and that good scores do not "guarantee that your pages will rank at the top of Google Search results". A slow viewer does cost you something in search, though that alone won't sink a page, and you can avoid the cost completely.

A badly built 3D viewer hurts page speed, and a well built one does not. With a poster image and a deferred load, the viewer costs the page about as much as one ordinary product image, and every shop already knows how to serve those quickly.

Where the SEO effect comes from

The effect comes from three sources, and none of them is structured data.

Engagement. A visitor who rotates a model, configures it, or opens it in AR through Scene Viewer or Quick Look is using the page. Google does not publish this as a ranking factor and you should not treat it as one. A page that people use is still the kind of page search engines try to reward, and it is good for the shop whatever happens to rankings.

Conversion. This is the main reason to add 3D. Shopify reported in 2020 that interactions with products carrying 3D or AR content converted 94 percent more often than comparable products without, and Rebecca Minkoff reported a 65 percent purchase lift on AR-enabled pages. A page that ranks fifth and converts well is worth more than a page that ranks first and converts badly.

Content you write around the model. Modelling a product forces you to pin down its dimensions, materials and variants. Put that on the page as text and Google can index it. Of everything in a 3D project, this text does the most for search performance.

What to do

Add Product structured data and get it right. Add 3DModel markup because it is accurate, and expect nothing from it. Load the model behind a poster image, and compress the geometry and textures. Write proper specification text on the page. Then judge the investment on conversion and returns, since the evidence supports those and says nothing about rankings.

Google documents no search feature that a 3D model triggers, so 3D should not be bought as an SEO product.

Our pricing is per product per month: Basic from 10 dollars per product per month on a twelve-month term with a minimum of 100 variants, Value from 20 dollars per model per month on a twenty-four-month term, Enterprise quoted. We build one product for free so you can measure the page yourself, before and after. Send us one product, and you keep the model we build.

Sources

• Schema.org, 3DModel.
• Google Search Central, structured data markup that Google Search supports.
• Google Search Central, understanding page experience in Google Search results.
• Google, Scene Viewer developer documentation.
• Apple, AR Quick Look.
• Shopify, merchant data on 3D and AR content, September 2020, and AR shopping.