Structured data is code you add to a page to tell search engines exactly what the content is: this is a business, this is a product with this price, this is an article published on this date. It's usually written in JSON-LD format, placed in a script tag in the page.
For years it was sold mainly as a way to get "rich results", the enhanced search listings with stars, prices, FAQ dropdowns and so on. Google has since reduced some of those. FAQ rich results now show mainly for authoritative government and health sites, How-To rich results were removed, and a few other types have been retired. Some clients have asked whether structured data is still worth the effort.
We think it is, but for slightly different reasons than before.
Why it still matters
Search engines understand your content better. Even without a visual rich result, structured data helps Google connect your pages to your business, your products, your location and your authors.
AI tools use it too. AI search tools and assistants rely on understanding what's on a page. Clean, structured information about your products, prices, hours and services makes it easier for them to represent your business accurately.
Some rich results are still very valuable. Product prices and availability, review stars, events, recipes and breadcrumbs still appear and still improve click-through rates.
What we add to most business sites
Organization or LocalBusiness. Name, logo, address, phone, opening hours, social profiles. For local businesses, use the most specific type available, like Dentist, Restaurant or LegalService.
WebSite. Basic information about the site itself.
BreadcrumbList. Shows the page's position in your site structure. Breadcrumbs often appear in search results instead of the raw URL.
Article or BlogPosting for blog posts, with author, publish date and image.
What we add for specific site types
- E-commerce:
Productwith price, currency, availability, brand and reviews. Merchant listings in Google depend heavily on this. - Events:
Eventwith dates, location and ticket information. - Courses and education:
Courseinformation. - Job listings:
JobPosting, which can show your openings in Google's job search features. - Software:
SoftwareApplicationfor SaaS products and apps.
Common mistakes
- Marking up content that isn't on the page. Structured data should describe what visitors can actually see. Adding fake review stars or hidden FAQs violates Google's guidelines.
- Leaving it outdated. A price in your structured data that doesn't match the price on the page causes problems, especially for product listings.
- Copy-pasting the same markup on every page. Each page needs markup that describes that specific page.
- Never testing it. Use Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator after adding markup, and check Search Console's enhancement reports for errors.
Keep it generated, not hand-typed
On a CMS or custom site, structured data should be generated automatically from your content: product prices from the product database, article dates from the post's publish date. Hand-written JSON-LD drifts out of date quickly.
Structured data won't rescue weak content. But for a well-built site, it's a cheap way to make sure search engines, and increasingly AI tools, understand exactly what you offer.
