Structured Data
Structured data is machine-readable markup — written in the schema.org vocabulary, usually as JSON-LD — that labels a page's entities and their relationships so search engines can extract them reliably and consider the page for rich results.
Structured data describes a page's content as typed objects — an Article with an author, a Product with a price, an Organization with a logo — using the shared schema.org vocabulary that Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo launched in 2011. Google accepts three formats: JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa. JSON-LD is the format Google recommends because it lives in a single <script type="application/ld+json"> block, decoupled from the visible HTML, which makes it easier to generate, template, and audit than attribute-based markup.
Google reads structured data during search engine indexing, after rendering — markup injected by JavaScript counts once the page renders. The markup does two things: it lets Google extract entities and their relationships without inferring them from prose, and it makes the page eligible for rich results — review stars, product details, breadcrumbs, event and job listings in search. Eligibility is also a gate elsewhere: the Google Indexing API only accepts pages carrying JobPosting or BroadcastEvent markup.
Structured data is not a ranking factor. Google states that markup earns no direct ranking boost, and it does not push a page past indexing quality thresholds either. Its payoff is precision — Google understands exactly what the page is about — and presentation, where rich results raise click-through on the positions the page already earns.
Quick facts
What does structured data do — and not do?
Structured data gives Google typed, machine-readable facts about the page, which drives two concrete outcomes: reliable entity extraction and rich-result eligibility. It does not improve rankings directly and does not get a page indexed on its own.
What it does:
- Labels entities and relationships explicitly (
author,publisher,offers,isPartOf) - Qualifies the page for the rich results its type supports (products, recipes, jobs, events, breadcrumbs, videos)
- Feeds Google's entity-level understanding of the site as a whole
What it does not do:
- Raise rankings — Google confirms markup carries no direct ranking boost
- Guarantee rich results — valid markup makes them possible; Google decides per query whether to show them
- Bypass indexing quality thresholds for thin pages
How do you validate structured data?
Validate before publishing with the Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results), which fetches and renders the URL the way Google does, then lists every detected rich-result type with its errors and warnings. After publishing, Google Search Console's enhancement reports run the same checks site-wide: one report per detected type, with valid, warning, and error counts per URL.
Errors make an item ineligible for rich results; warnings flag missing optional properties and cost nothing. Because Google parses markup from the rendered page, JSON-LD injected client-side validates only if rendering succeeds. Generate correct JSON-LD for common types with the Schema Markup Generator.
How does structured data support entity SEO?
Structured data is the machine-readable layer of entity SEO: four properties turn isolated markup into an entity graph Google can walk. about declares the page's main entity and mentions its secondary entities; sameAs ties an entity to its authoritative external profiles — a Wikipedia page, official social accounts — so Google can reconcile it with entities it already knows; and @id assigns each entity a stable URI so every page references the same Organization or Person node instead of redefining it.
Used consistently, these properties make the site's topical identity explicit — each page declares what it is about and how its entities connect — the structured counterpart to what internal linking signals through the link graph.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is structured data a ranking factor?+
No. Google states structured data provides no direct ranking boost. It changes how a result can display — rich results typically lift click-through rate — not where the page ranks.
Does structured data help a page get indexed?+
Not by itself. Markup helps Google understand a page it has already chosen to crawl and index; it does not push thin content past quality thresholds. Crawlability and content quality decide indexing.
Why is my page not showing rich results despite valid markup?+
Valid markup makes a page eligible; Google decides per query whether to display the rich result. Confirm zero errors in the Rich Results Test, then confirm the page is indexed at all — unindexed pages show nothing.