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Structured data

Updated: 3 min read SEOFuxx editorial team

Structured data is additional information in the source code of a page that tells search engines, in a defined vocabulary (usually Schema.org), what the page is about: an article, a product, an organization, an event. It makes content machine-readable and can lead to enhanced displays in the search results, called rich results.

Vocabulary and formats

Schema.org was started in 2011 by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and Yandex joined shortly afterwards. The vocabulary describes types such as Article, Product or Organization with their properties. There are three formats for embedding it:

FormatDescriptionAssessment
JSON-LDA script block of its own, separate from the visible HTMLRecommended by Google, easiest to maintain
MicrodataAttributes directly in the HTML elementsPossible, but closely tied to the layout
RDFaAlso attributes in the HTMLRarely used
 
<!-- JSON-LD: structured data for an article -->
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Your article title",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Jane Doe"
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-01-15",
  "image": "https://example.com/image.webp",
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your company",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  }
}
</script>

What they are used for

Google evaluates structured data to understand content and to identify pages that are eligible for enhanced displays. Commonly used types are:

  • Organization and WebSite: details about the company, logo and profiles on social networks
  • Article and BlogPosting: title, author, date and image of a post
  • Product and Offer: price, availability and ratings of a product
  • BreadcrumbList: the path of a page in the website structure, which can appear in the results instead of the URL
  • LocalBusiness, Event, JobPosting, VideoObject: for local providers, events, job postings and videos

Google has restricted individual displays. Since August 2023 it shows the FAQ display only for well-known government and health sites, and it cut back the HowTo display sharply at the same time. You do not have to remove existing markup for that, but the list of supported types changes, so check it in Google's current documentation.

Rules for clean markup

  • The markup has to match the visible content of the page. Information visitors cannot see is not allowed.
  • Required properties of a type have to be present; recommended properties raise the chance of a display.
  • Misleading markup, such as invented reviews, can lead to a manual action.
  • Google describes structured data as an aid to understanding a page and as a precondition for rich results, not as a ranking factor.

Structured data and AI answers

With clear information about organization, people and products you can describe which entities appear on a page and how they relate. That can help search systems assign content correctly (see Knowledge Graph). Google writes about AI Overviews and AI Mode that no special Schema.org markup is needed for them, but that the markup should match the visible text. Whether other AI systems weight structured data when choosing their sources has not been demonstrated. It is still a sensible foundation.

Checking

  • Google's Rich Results Test: shows whether a page is eligible for enhanced displays and lists errors and warnings
  • Schema Markup Validator: checks the markup for correct syntax independently of Google
  • Search Console: the reports on enhancements show errors for the whole website (see Google Search Console)

Common mistakes

  • Markup for content that is not on the page: This violates the guidelines.
  • Missing required properties: Without them the page is not eligible for the display.
  • Invalid JSON: A missing comma or quotation mark makes the whole block unreadable.
  • The same markup on all pages: Product markup with identical details on every page is wrong.
  • Not checking again after a relaunch: Changes to the template can silently remove the markup.

Sources

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