On-page SEO
Structured Data
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What is Structured Data?
Structured data is a standardized format — most commonly implemented using Schema.org vocabulary in JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa syntax — that provides explicit information about a page's content to search engines. By marking up entities like articles, products, recipes, events, and reviews, webmasters help search engines understand content without relying solely on text interpretation.
Google uses structured data to generate rich results in the SERP: review stars, pricing, breadcrumbs, recipe details, events, and more. (Since August 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results only for a small set of well-known government and health sites, and it has removed HowTo rich results.) While structured data markup does not guarantee rich results, it is the prerequisite for earning them. JSON-LD is Google's recommended format because it sits in a separate script block (usually in the `<head>`) and does not require altering visible HTML markup.
Why it matters for SEO
Structured data enables rich SERP features that can dramatically increase click-through rates by making listings more visually prominent and informative. It also helps search engines build a more accurate understanding of entities on a page, supporting better rankings in semantic and AI-powered search.
Example
A bakery's product page adds a JSON-LD block of type Product with its name ("Sourdough Loaf"), image, description and an Offer with price "4.50", priceCurrency "GBP" and availability InStock. Google can now read the price and stock status directly instead of inferring them from the page text, and the page becomes eligible for product rich results.
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