Structured data is a block of text, hidden in the page, that tells search engines what the page is: a product, an article, a business, a recipe. With it, Google may show the result with extra information (stars, a price, an image). That is called a rich result. Structured data makes the site eligible; it does not guarantee Google shows it.
The types that matter most
| Type |
For which page |
| Organization / LocalBusiness |
The home or contact page: business name, address, links to social profiles. |
| Article |
A blog or news post: title, author, date, image. |
| Product |
A product page: name, image, price and availability. |
| BreadcrumbList |
The navigation trail (“Home, Shop, Shoes”). |
How to add it
| 1 |
See what is already there first. Many themes and SEO plugins already write structured data. WooCommerce writes the product data. Adding a second identical block gives duplicates, which is worse than having none.
|
|
| 2 |
Use the SEO plugin you already have. Most of them carry a structured-data or “schema” section where you fill in the organisation name, the logo and the social profiles, without writing code.
|
|
| 3 |
Or write the block by hand, in JSON-LD, which is what Google recommends. You can paste it in the theme’s header area, or use a plugin that inserts code into the header. A minimal example, for a business:
{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Your business name", "url": "https://yourcompany.com/" }
Inside a script tag of the type application/ld+json.
|
|
| 4 |
Test. Google’s Rich Results Test and the schema.org validator read a page’s address and tell you what they find and what is missing. Fix the errors they point to.
|
|
What the test usually points out
| Message |
What to do |
| A required field is missing (for example the name or the price) |
It is an error: without that field the type is not eligible. Fill it in through the SEO plugin or in the block. |
| A recommended field is missing |
It is a warning: the rest works, but Google may show less. Fill it in when you have the data. |
| The same type repeated |
Two “Organization” blocks or two “Product” ones: one comes from the theme or plugin and the other was pasted by hand. Keep one. |
| The data does not match the page |
The price in the block is not the one on screen. Fix the source, and clear the site cache so the stored page stops showing the old value. |
|
Mark up only what the page really shows. Reviews nobody wrote, prices that are not the page’s or questions that are not there are the shortest road to Google ignoring your data, or to the site being penalised. Structured data describes the visible content; it does not replace it.
|
|
Do not promise yourself stars in the results. Google decides, case by case, whether to show a rich result, and the rules change. What has value is having the right data and a well-made page. For the rest, see being found on Google.
|
|
Added the block and the site stopped opening? Tell us the address and what changed, and we will see what the server returns.
Open a support ticket
|
RECOMMENDED PRODUCT Web hosting with cPanel Domain and SSL included, daily backups and the panel you already know. from $6.60/mo (3-year plan, with coupon) See plans |
Angola
Brasil
Kenya
Moçambique
Nigeria
Portugal
South Africa
United Kingdom
United States
International
