Structured data is a snippet of code on the page that tells Google, in a format a machine can read without guessing, what that page is: a business, a service, a product, an article. The most common format is JSON-LD, using the schema.org vocabulary, which is why many people call the practice schema markup. It helps the search engine understand the page and, in some cases, makes it eligible for a rich result. It is not a button that moves your site up the rankings.
A quick note for anyone who landed here for a different reason. This article covers the schema.org code you add to your site for SEO. It is not the database discussion about structured versus unstructured data, which separates tables from free-form text.
What structured data is in SEO
In SEO, it is information about the page written in a standard format Google can read directly. Instead of working out from the text that “Rua das Flores, 100” is an address, the search engine reads a field called address with that value inside it.
The Google structured data documentation explains the use this way: Google uses what it finds in the markup to understand the content of the page and, for some types, to display a rich result. The same page notes that most markup uses the schema.org vocabulary, but that for behavior on Google, the Google documentation applies, not the schema.org one.
There are three possible formats. JSON-LD sits in a separate block, away from the visible HTML, and is the easiest to maintain. The other two, microdata and RDFa, are mixed into the page’s HTML and take more work every time the layout changes. For a typical business website, the practical answer is JSON-LD.
What a LocalBusiness JSON-LD looks like
A JSON-LD is a block of text with curly braces that describes the business field by field. It goes into the HTML inside a script tag of type application/ld+json, usually in the page header. Here is a short example, for a bakery that does not exist:
{“@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “LocalBusiness”, “name”: “Padaria Exemplo”, “url”: “https://www.exemplo.com.br/”, “telephone”: “+55 11 5555-0000”, “address”: {“@type”: “PostalAddress”, “streetAddress”: “Rua das Flores, 100”, “addressLocality”: “São Paulo”, “addressRegion”: “SP”, “postalCode”: “01000-000”, “addressCountry”: “BR”}, “openingHoursSpecification”: {“@type”: “OpeningHoursSpecification”, “dayOfWeek”: [“Monday”, “Tuesday”, “Wednesday”, “Thursday”, “Friday”, “Saturday”], “opens”: “06:00”, “closes”: “20:00”}}
Read it like this. The @context field says the vocabulary is schema.org. The @type says the thing being described is a local business. The rest are properties, and some hold another object inside, like the address. The days of the week are in English because that is how the vocabulary works, even on a Portuguese-language site.
For Google, the basic fields of a local business are the name and the address. Google’s local business documentation lists the rest, such as hours, phone number and departments. Fill in only what is true and what is visible on the page.
The most useful schema types
There are hundreds of types on schema.org, and a small business uses half a dozen. The table shows the ones that appear most often on business websites, what each one describes and what to expect.
| Type | Who it’s for | What it describes | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | Every business, on the home page | Name, logo, website, official profiles | Helps Google connect the website to the business |
| LocalBusiness | Businesses that serve customers at a physical address | Address, hours, phone number | Reinforces the data Google already has from the Google Business Profile |
| Service | Businesses that sell services | What you do and for whom | Clarity for the machine, with no rich result of its own in search |
| FAQPage | Pages with questions and answers | Question and answer | The rich result no longer appears, see below |
| Article | Blog and news | Title, author, date, image | Gives Google and AI tools the authorship and date |
| Product | Online store | Price, stock, reviews | Can enable price and availability in the result |
| BreadcrumbList | Sites with multiple levels | The page’s navigation path | Can replace the URL with a readable path in the result |
On FAQPage, here is a correction that a lot of older material misses. The change log in Google’s documentation states that the FAQ rich result stopped appearing in search starting May 7, 2026. The code is still valid and the questions are still useful to the reader, but it no longer earns that expanded block under the link.
If you want to know where to start, the sensible order is Organization on the home page, LocalBusiness if there is an address, Article on the blog, Product in the store and BreadcrumbList across the whole site. Service and the rest come in once the foundation is in place.
Does schema markup get you stars in the results?
You can’t promise that. Marking up a page as Product, for example, makes the site eligible to show price or reviews in the result, but Google decides whether to show them, case by case and query by query. Eligible does not mean guaranteed.
So be wary of anyone selling “schema to get stars” as a sure result. What the markup reliably delivers is clarity, because the search engine stops guessing who you are. The visual effect, when it comes, is a bonus.
The documentation also includes a rule that keeps you out of trouble. Do not put information in the markup that the visitor cannot see on the page, even if it is true. The markup describes the page content, and it does not work as a hidden business card.
How to add structured data to your site
In practice, it means generating the right JSON-LD block for each type of page and pasting it in the right place. The steps vary by platform.
- List your pages and types. The home page gets Organization. The contact or about page gets LocalBusiness. Each post gets Article. Each product gets Product.
- Generate the code. On WordPress, SEO plugins like Rank Math and Yoast SEO build part of the schema automatically and have fields for you to complete the rest.
- Fill it in with real data. Name, address and phone number must be identical to what appears on your website and in your Google Business Profile. Even a single comma of difference can cause confusion.
- Publish and test. Before you call the task done, run each type of page through the testing tool.
- Monitor it in Search Console. After publishing, the rich results reports show whether the markup broke because of a new theme or an update.
On Shopify, the theme usually already includes Product schema. On Wix, there is a schema panel in the SEO settings. On a custom-built site, the developer adds the block to the header. Google’s documentation says the same for all of these cases: look for the SEO settings of your platform or a plugin that supports schema.
A common issue on WordPress is having two plugins generating schema at the same time, which duplicates Organization and Article. Pick just one for this job. This kind of check is part of what technical SEO and an SEO audit cover.
How to test structured data
To test, open Google’s Rich Results Test, paste the page URL or the code, and see which types Google recognized, along with the errors and warnings for each one.
An error is something that stops Google from using the markup. A warning is a recommended field that was left empty. Fix all errors and judge the warnings based on what makes sense for your business.
The second test is the schema.org validator, at validator.schema.org. It checks the syntax against the entire vocabulary, including types Google doesn’t use for rich results, such as Service. The two complement each other. Google’s tells you what works for Google Search, and the schema.org one tells you whether the code is correct as schema.
What changes with AI: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI summary
In practice, little changes, and it is less magical than it’s sold to be. Regarding Google Search’s AI features, the official documentation says you don’t need to create a new file, write text for AI or add special markup, and that there is no specific schema.org type for appearing in them. What it asks is that the markup match the visible text on the page.
As for ChatGPT and Gemini, neither company publishes a rule saying schema gets a brand cited. So the honest argument is a different one. A page that clearly states who the company is, where it is, what it sells and who wrote the article is easier for any system to read, whether a search engine or an AI. Schema is hygiene, not a shortcut.
What usually weighs more in getting cited is content that answers the question clearly, signs that the company really exists, and consistency between your website, your Google Business Profile and other mentions. The article on SEO for AI and the guide to Google AI Overviews go into detail on that side.
Common schema markup mistakes
Almost every problem that shows up in an audit falls into one of these situations.
- Marking up reviews that don’t exist on the page, or copying a rating from another site.
- Listing a price, hours or phone number that differ from what is visible.
- Using the wrong type, such as Article on a sales page.
- Leaving two plugins generating the same schema.
- Copying another company’s code without changing the name and address.
- Forgetting to test after changing the theme.
Where schema fits in on-page SEO
Markup is one layer of on-page SEO, and not the first. Before it come the title, description, heading structure, text that answers the search and a page that loads fast. Fix those and your Google Business Profile first, then add Organization and LocalBusiness, and only then the types specific to your business.
Frequently asked questions
What is structured data? It is information on a page written in a standard that Google reads directly, usually in JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary. It tells Google what the page is, such as a company, a service, a product or an article.
Are schema markup and structured data the same thing? In practice, yes. The latter is the name of the concept, and schema markup is what the industry calls markup written with the schema.org vocabulary.
Does schema improve rankings? Google presents it as a help for understanding the page and for enabling rich results, not as a factor that raises your position. The gain usually comes from being understood accurately and, sometimes, from a result with more information.
Do I need to know how to code to add schema to my site? Not necessarily. Plugins like Rank Math and Yoast SEO generate a good part of it, and platforms like Shopify and Wix have their own fields. For specific types or a custom-built site, it’s worth asking your developer.
How do I know if the markup is right? Run the page through Google’s Rich Results Test and the schema.org validator. Fix all errors, evaluate the warnings and monitor the reports in Search Console.
Does schema help you show up in ChatGPT and Gemini? There is no official rule saying so. It helps make the page clearer to any system, but being cited depends more on the content and on the company’s consistency across the internet.
Want to know what your site is missing?
At Ciclicko, structured data is handled together with the review of the title, description, structure and content of each page. Learn about the on-page SEO and GEO plans and see how your site becomes clearer to Google and to AI.