What is structured data?
Hidden labels in your code that tell search engines exactly what your content means, powering rich results and AI answers.
Structured data is extra information added to your web pages, in a standard vocabulary called Schema.org, that spells out what your content means in terms machines can read. A page might show a review, a price, an event or an FAQ; structured data labels each of those explicitly so a search engine doesn’t have to guess.
Why it’s worth doing
- Rich results. It can earn you the enhanced listings in Google (star ratings, FAQs, event times, recipes) that stand out and earn more clicks.
- AI answers. Clear, labelled content is easier for AI assistants to understand, trust and cite.
- Clarity. It removes ambiguity about who you are, what you offer and where you’re based, which is useful for SEO, especially local search.
How it works
It’s usually added as a small block of JSON-LD in the page’s code: invisible to visitors, legible to machines. Many CMS platforms and SEO tools can generate it for you, or it can be built into the site directly.
The principle underneath
Structured data is really about being unambiguous. The clearer you make your meaning to machines, the more often, and more accurately, your business gets surfaced.