When a search engine or AI assistant reads your website, it sees text. But it does not always understand what that text means in context. Is this a product page? A blog post? A company homepage? Is this text a review from a customer or a description from the company?
Structured data is a way to add labels to your content that make this clear. You are essentially giving machines a cheat sheet about what everything on your page means.
This helps in a few ways. Search engines might display your content more prominently or with special formatting (like showing star ratings in search results). AI assistants can better understand what you do and describe you more accurately.
What structured data looks like
Structured data is just special code you add to your pages. The most common format is called JSON-LD, and it goes in the head section of your page.
Here is an example of structured data that tells machines about your organization:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Company Name",
"url": "https://yourcompany.com",
"logo": "https://yourcompany.com/logo.png",
"description": "A one-sentence description of what your company does"
}
When a machine reads this, it immediately knows: this is an organization, this is its name, this is its website, this is its logo, and this is what it does. No guessing required.
Structured data types that matter most
For your homepage, use Organization schema. This establishes basic facts about your company that can show up when people search for your brand name.
For blog posts and articles, use Article schema. This tells machines who wrote the article, when it was published, and what it is about.
For pages with questions and answers (like FAQ pages), use FAQPage schema. This can help your content appear in featured snippets and can be useful for AI assistants looking for clear answers.
For software products, use SoftwareApplication schema. This describes what your software does, what platforms it runs on, and other relevant details.
How to add structured data to your pages
If you use a content management system like WordPress, there are plugins that can add structured data automatically. Search for "schema plugin" for your platform.
If you have a custom website, you or your developer will need to add the JSON-LD code manually. It goes in a script tag in the head of your page:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Company Name",
"url": "https://yourcompany.com"
}
</script>
Testing your structured data
Google has a free tool for checking if your structured data is valid. Search for "Google Rich Results Test" and paste in your page URL. It will show you what structured data it found and whether there are any errors.
Common errors include missing required fields, wrong data types (like putting text where a number should go), or invalid URLs.
Do not overthink this
You do not need to add structured data to every page on your site. Start with your homepage (Organization schema) and your main product or service pages. If you have a blog, add Article schema to your posts.
The goal is not to have perfect structured data everywhere. The goal is to help machines understand your most important content. Get the basics in place first, then expand if you want to.