Structured data
Markup for search engines
Structured data is code added to a page that tells search engines exactly what is on it: a product, a review, an event, or a recipe. It is most often written in the JSON-LD format using the schema.org vocabulary. Thanks to it, Google shows richer results and reuses your content more easily in AI answers.
How structured data works
A person on a page easily recognizes that a number is a price and the stars are a rating. A search engine only guesses this from plain text. Structured data replaces that guess with an unambiguous description: here is the product name, here the price, here the availability, and here the average customer rating.
In practice the most common format is JSON-LD, which Google recommends. It is a block of code in the page header that describes the content using the standardized schema.org vocabulary. The visitor never sees it, but search engines and language models read the precise information from it.
Why structured data pays off
The most visible benefit is rich snippets, meaning richer search results that we can set up for you as part of professional SEO. A product can show its price and rating, a recipe its prep time, a business its opening hours. Such a result stands out more and earns more clicks even when the position stays the same.
With the rise of AI overviews and chatbots, an accurate description of your content matters even more. Language models pick up facts about your product or business from structured data more easily and place them correctly in an answer. Without it, they interpret your content from plain text alone.
- Products: price, availability, and ratings right in the result.
- Business: address, opening hours, and contact for local search.
- Articles and FAQs: expanded snippets and questions with answers.
- Events, recipes, and videos: dates, times, and previews.
Want to stand out with richer results?
Explore our SEO servicesFrequently asked questions
Will structured data guarantee me better rankings?
Not directly. Structured data is not a ranking factor, but it helps Google understand your content and often unlocks a richer result that attracts more clicks. A higher click count can then help the page’s performance indirectly.
Which structured data format should I use?
Google recommends JSON-LD, which is inserted as a separate block of code and doesn’t mix with the visible content. It is the easiest to maintain and is supported by other search engines too.
How do I check that my structured data is correct?
Use Google’s Rich Results Test and the enhancements report in Search Console. They show which data types Google recognized and where there are errors that prevent a rich snippet from appearing.