Schema.org structured data is a way of describing a web page's content with standard labels. When a person looks at a product page, they immediately understand the price, stock status and brand. A search engine, on the other hand, tries to infer this information from the text. Structured data removes the guesswork: it says, "This is a product, its name is this, its price is that, and it's in stock."
Schema.org is a shared vocabulary launched in 2011 by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, which Yandex joined soon after. Today it includes hundreds of types, but the number a corporate or e-commerce site actually needs can be counted on one hand. In this article we explain which markup suits which page.
What structured data does, and what it doesn't
Structured data has two benefits. The first is the chance of earning rich results in search (star ratings, prices, stock, breadcrumbs and so on). The second is that search engines and AI systems understand your company, products and pages with fewer errors.
It's just as important to know what it doesn't do. Structured data on its own doesn't raise your rankings and doesn't guarantee rich results; Google decides for itself whether to show them. The markup must also match the visible content on the page exactly. Marking up a review or price that isn't on the page violates Google's guidelines and can lead to penalties.
Which markup for which page?
| Page | Recommended type | Key information to include |
|---|---|---|
| Home page | Organization | Name, logo, address, phone, social accounts |
| Contact or branch page | LocalBusiness | Full address, opening hours, location |
| Product page | Product and Offer | Name, image, brand, price, currency, stock |
| Blog post | Article or BlogPosting | Headline, author, publication and update dates |
| All inner pages | BreadcrumbList | The page's path within the site |
| Frequently asked questions | FAQPage | Question and answer pairs |
The types in this table cover most of what corporate sites need. The Service type can also be used for service pages; Google doesn't show a special rich result for it, but it clarifies the page's subject.
Is FAQ markup still necessary?
In August 2023, Google announced that it was limiting FAQ rich results largely to well-known, authoritative government and health websites. Around the same time, HowTo rich results were removed. So on an ordinary corporate site, FAQ markup no longer shows up as expandable questions in search results.
Even so, we don't abandon FAQ markup entirely. The question-and-answer structure tells machines clearly which questions the page answers. How AI-powered search systems use this structure isn't clearly documented; but it's certain that well-structured content does no harm and improves clarity. We cover this topic more broadly in our article on showing up in AI answers.
The JSON-LD format and where it goes
Structured data can be written in several formats; the one Google recommends is JSON-LD. JSON-LD is a short piece of data added as a separate block in the page code, without mixing into the page's visible content. Organization markup roughly carries the following information:
- Type: Organization
- Name: your company's official name
- URL: your website's main address
- Logo: the full address of the logo image
- Other profiles of the same organization: accounts such as LinkedIn and Google Business Profile
- Contact point: phone number and service language
Rather than writing this block by hand, it's healthiest for your site's software to generate it automatically. When a product price changes, the markup should update itself too; hand-written markup ends up contradicting the page over time.
Why product markup matters in e-commerce
On e-commerce sites, Product and Offer markup delivers the most return. Price, stock status and, where available, genuine customer reviews can appear in search results; free listings in the Google Shopping tab can also draw on this information. Remember that shipping and return information can be marked up too. We described the other parts of a product page in our article on the anatomy of a product page.
Practical checklist
- Is there organization markup on the home page, and are the logo and contact details correct?
- Are the address and phone number the same everywhere on the site and in your Google Business Profile?
- Do price and stock details on product pages match the markup exactly?
- Are publication and update dates marked up on blog posts?
- Are there errors in Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator?
- Are warnings showing in the "Enhancements" section of Search Console?
How we do it at Globya
On the sites we build, structured data is generated by the site's own software, not by a pile of plugins; when the content changes, the markup changes too. On our IMFLEXI e-commerce platform, product, price and stock markup comes built in. If you're curious about the state of structured data on your current site, we check it in the first step of our SEO and GEO work.
If I add structured data, will star ratings appear right away?
No. Markup is an eligibility condition, not a guarantee. Google shows stars and other rich results based on its own assessment; also, reviews you write about yourself can't be used for stars.
Is using a plugin enough?
For simple sites it's often enough, but a common problem is several plugins generating the same type again with different information. If there are multiple blocks of the same type in the page source, they should be checked.
Can incorrect markup do harm?
Markup that is wrong but well-intentioned is usually just ignored. Marking up information that isn't on the page, however, is considered misleading and can lead Google to apply a manual action.
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