Google Structured Data: What It Is, How Google Uses It, and How to Add It

When Google crawls your website, it reads two things: the content your visitors see, and any structured data you've added underneath. Structured data is a standardised way of labelling your content so Google knows exactly what it's looking at — is this a product? A recipe? A business location? An event? Without structured data, Google has to guess. With it, you get rich results in search that stand out from every plain blue link.

This guide covers what Google structured data actually is, why Google built support for it, the three formats it accepts, how to write and deploy it, and how to confirm it's being picked up correctly.

What is structured data, actually?

Your web page has content (the text, images, and video your visitors see) and markup (the HTML code that structures it). Structured data sits alongside that markup as a block of code that describes your content using a shared vocabulary — Schema.org.

Think of it like a label on a product in a warehouse. Without a label, a box just looks like a box. With a label that says "contains 12 glass jars, fragile, refrigerate below 5°C", warehouse staff know exactly what to do with it. Structured data gives Google the same clarity about your content.

Schema.org is the vocabulary — a shared list of types (Article, Product, Recipe, Event, LocalBusiness, etc.) and properties (name, price, datePublished, author, etc.) that Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines all agreed to use. When you add structured data using this vocabulary, every search engine that supports it can understand your content the same way.

What does Google do with structured data?

Google uses structured data for two main purposes. The first is rich results — enhanced search result formats that show more information directly in the search page. The second is entity understanding — building a more accurate picture of what your website, your business, and your content actually represents.

Rich results

A standard search result shows a title, a URL, and a short description. A rich result can show much more — star ratings and a price for a product, a photo and cook time for a recipe, expandable question and answer dropdowns for an FAQ, or a thumbnail and duration for a video.

These enhancements only appear when you have the right structured data on a page. Without it, you are never eligible regardless of how good your content is. With it, Google can decide to show the enhanced format — and pages that get rich results typically see 20–50% more clicks than plain results in the same position.

Entity understanding

Beyond rich results, Google uses structured data to build its understanding of who you are. When you add Organization schema with your company name, logo, founded date, and links to your social profiles, you're giving Google the raw material to add your brand to its Knowledge Graph — a giant database of real-world entities.

Once Google recognises your brand as a Knowledge Graph entity, your business gets a Knowledge Panel in search results, Google associates your content with your brand more reliably, and you become more trustworthy in Google's eyes — which affects rankings but cannot be bought or faked.

The three structured data formats Google accepts

Google supports three ways to write structured data: JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa. All three communicate the same information but in different ways.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "How to Make Sourdough Bread",
  "datePublished": "2026-02-25T09:00:00Z",
  "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Smith" }
}
</script>

<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article">
  <h1 itemprop="headline">How to Make Sourdough Bread</h1>
  <span itemprop="datePublished" content="2026-02-25">Feb 25</span>
</div>

How to write your first piece of structured data

Every JSON-LD block has the same basic structure. There are three parts you always need:

• @contextAlways "https://schema.org". This tells Google which vocabulary you are using. Never change this value.
• @typeThe type of thing you are describing. Article, Product, Recipe, LocalBusiness, Event, etc. Pick the most specific type that fits your content.
• propertiesThe specific facts that describe the thing — its name, date, price, author, image, etc. Each type has a defined set of properties. Some are required for rich results, others are recommended.

Here is a complete Article example you can copy and customise:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Your Article Title Here",
  "datePublished": "2026-02-25T09:00:00Z",
  "dateModified": "2026-02-25T09:00:00Z",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Your Name",
    "url": "https://yoursite.com/about"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Site Name",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://yoursite.com/logo.png"
    }
  },
  "image": "https://yoursite.com/article-image.jpg",
  "description": "A 1–2 sentence summary of what this article covers.",
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://yoursite.com/your-article-url"
  }
}
</script>

Where to place the structured data on your page

The <script> tag can go anywhere in your page — inside <head> or anywhere in <body>. Google finds it regardless of where it appears in the HTML.

The one firm rule: the structured data must appear in the initial HTML response from the server. If it is injected by JavaScript after the page loads, Google may not process it. This is why frameworks like Next.js that render pages server-side are excellent for structured data — the JSON-LD is in the HTML before any JavaScript runs.

Adding structured data on different platforms

Required vs recommended properties

Every schema type has two categories of properties. Required properties are the minimum Google needs to consider your markup valid for rich results. Missing a required property means no rich result, full stop. Recommended properties add detail that makes the rich result richer — more fields visible in search, more eligibility.

For example, a Product schema requires name and a valid offers block with a price. But to show star ratings you also need aggregateRating. To show shipping information you need shippingDetails. Each additional property you add improves how the result looks — the baseline gets you in the door, the extras make you stand out.

How Google validates structured data

Google processes structured data at crawl time and again when it renders your page with JavaScript. It then runs the parsed structured data through a validation process:

1. 1
   Syntax check: Is the JSON valid? A single missing comma or unclosed brace will cause the entire block to be ignored.
2. 2
   Vocabulary check: Is the @type recognised? Are the property names valid for that type on schema.org?
3. 3
   Required fields check: Are all required properties present and non-empty?
4. 4
   Policy check: Does the content follow Google's rich results policies? Misleading data, spammy reviews, and promotional content in structured data fields gets rejected.
5. 5
   Representativeness check: Does the structured data actually match the visible page content? Structured data that describes something the page doesn't show is a policy violation.

How to check your structured data is working

Common structured data mistakes to avoid