Structured data basics

Structured data is code that describes the content of a page in a standard vocabulary, usually schema.org. It tells search engines explicitly that "this page is a product, this is its price, this is the brand", instead of leaving them to infer it.

What it can and cannot do

• Can: make pages eligible for supported rich results, and help search engines understand entities such as your organisation, products and articles.
• Cannot: rank a page higher on its own, or add information that is not on the page.

JSON-LD

Google supports JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa, and recommends JSON-LD. It sits in a <script> tag and does not change the visible HTML.

Organization (home page):

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Servisas UAB",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "telephone": "+370 600 00000",
  "sameAs": ["https://www.facebook.com/servisas"]
}
</script>

BreadcrumbList (inner pages):

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Paslaugos", "item": "https://example.com/paslaugos/" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Nešiojamų kompiuterių remontas" }
  ]
}
</script>

Local businesses use LocalBusiness (covered in the local SEO module). Online stores use Product (covered in the e-commerce module).

Quality guidelines

• Match the visible content. Do not mark up anything visitors cannot see, even if it is accurate.
• Be truthful. No fake reviews or ratings, and no prices that differ from the page.
• Include required properties for each feature, as listed in Google's documentation for that type.
• Keep it current. Out-of-date prices or availability are misleading.
• Do not block marked-up pages with robots.txt or noindex if you want rich results.

Which features are supported

Google's Search Gallery lists the rich result features it currently supports. Examples include Article, Breadcrumb, Event, Local business, Organization, Product, Recipe, Review snippet and Video. Check the gallery before adding a type for Google rich results.

Validate

1. Rich Results Test: checks whether Google can generate supported rich results from a URL or code.
2. Schema Markup Validator: checks schema.org markup in general, including types Google does not use for rich results, and site name markup.
3. Search Console: after publishing, the enhancement reports show valid items and errors across the site, and URL Inspection shows what Google found on a page.

Platform notes

• PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Shopify: themes and SEO modules often output Product and Organization markup already. Check what exists before adding more, because duplicate or conflicting markup is a common problem.
• Next.js and custom sites: render JSON-LD on the server from the same data that renders the page, so the two never drift apart.