Structured data explained for business owners

When you read a restaurant's web page, you instantly understand that "Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m." is the opening hours and "₡4,500" is the price of a dish. Google tries to understand that too, but sometimes it gets it wrong or isn't sure. Structured data is a way of telling it directly, in a language machines understand without ambiguity.

You don't need to be a developer to understand it, or to ask for it on your site. This guide explains it in plain language.

What structured data is

It's code added to your site's pages (usually in JSON-LD format) that describes your content using standard labels from the schema.org vocabulary: "this is a local business", "this is its address", "this is the price", "these are frequently asked questions".

Think of it as the labels on boxes in a storeroom: the contents are the same, but with a label anyone knows what's inside without opening the box.

Visitors don't see it; search engines read it, and increasingly so do AI assistants (see SEO and AI search).

What it's for

1. Helping Google understand your business

Your name, address, phone, hours, business type and social profiles become clear to Google, and match your Business Profile.

2. More eye-catching results

With the right data, Google may show extra information in your results, known as rich results:

• Stars and review counts on products.
• Price and availability.
• Breadcrumbs (the page's path).
• Event dates.

A result that takes up more space and shows useful information usually gets more clicks. But note: Google decides when to show them. Structured data makes it possible; it doesn't guarantee it.

The most useful types for a business

Type	What for	Where
LocalBusiness (or a specific type: Dentist, Restaurant, Hotel…)	Name, address, hours, phone	Home and contact pages
Product and Offer	Price, availability, reviews	Product pages
Article	Author and dates	Blog posts
FAQPage	Questions and answers	Pages with FAQs
Event	Dates, venue, tickets	Events and activities
BreadcrumbList	The page's path	Site-wide

For online stores, Product is the most important; we cover it in ecommerce SEO.

How it's added

It depends on your platform:

• WordPress: the best-known SEO plugins generate the basics (Organization, Article, BreadcrumbList). For local business or product data, check that it's complete.
• Shopify and other store platforms: usually include Product, but check that price and currency are correct.
• Custom sites: your developer adds it in the code for each page type.

How to check it

1. Google's Rich Results Test: paste a page URL and it tells you what data it found and whether it's valid.
2. Google Search Console: its enhancements section shows structured data errors and warnings across your whole site (see how to use Google Search Console).

Common mistakes

• Data that doesn't match the page: marking up a price or reviews the visitor can't see. It breaks Google's rules.
• Fake or copied reviews in product data.
• Outdated information: old hours or prices.
• Copying another site's code without changing the data.

Frequently asked questions

Does structured data improve my Google ranking?

Not directly. It helps Google understand your page and can make your result more attractive, which usually brings more clicks.

Do I need a developer?

For the basics, many platforms generate it automatically. For specific cases (a complete local business, events, products with variants), it's worth having someone experienced check it.

Why don't my stars show even though I have the data?

Google decides when to show rich results, depending on the search and the site's quality. Check that the data is valid and matches what the page shows.

Want help?

In our Technical SEO & content plan we review and complete your site's structured data. See our prices or start with an SEO audit.