What is Structured Data?
Structured data is a standardized format (usually JSON-LD) for providing information about a page and classifying its content. It helps search engines and AI models understand your pages, enabling rich results like star ratings, FAQs, and product info in SERPs.
Structured data uses vocabulary from Schema.org — a collaborative project between Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex. The recommended implementation format is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data), embedded in a <script> tag in the page's <head>.
Key structured data types for SEO: - Organization: Company name, logo, social profiles - Article / BlogPosting: Author, publish date, headline - FAQPage: Question-answer pairs displayed directly in SERPs - Product: Price, availability, reviews - BreadcrumbList: Navigation path hierarchy - LocalBusiness: Address, hours, phone - HowTo: Step-by-step instructions - SoftwareApplication: App details, pricing, ratings
Benefits: 1. Rich results increase CTR by 20-40% 2. AI search engines extract structured data preferentially 3. Google's Knowledge Graph pulls from structured data 4. Required for some SERP features (FAQ dropdowns, recipe cards, event listings)
Validation: Always test with Google's Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator before deploying.
Example
A SaaS pricing page with Product schema showing price ($49/mo), rating (4.8/5), and review count (2,100 reviews) displays a rich snippet in Google that stands out from plain blue links — increasing clicks by 35%.