Short answer
What is structured data?
Short answer
Structured data is code that describes a page’s content with a shared vocabulary, schema.org:
- Who the company is, its logo and its official profiles.
- Which product or service it offers, at what price and where.
- Who wrote an article and when it was published.
What is schema markup, then? It is structured data written with that vocabulary. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex have maintained it together since 2011, and it defines types such as Organization, Product or LocalBusiness, with their properties.
Google recommends writing it in JSON-LD: a separate block of code that changes nothing the visitor sees. These are minimal structured data examples for a company:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Example Renovations",
"url": "https://www.examplerenovations.co.uk",
"logo": "https://www.examplerenovations.co.uk/logo.png",
"sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/example-renovations"]
}
</script>Google in 2026
What is structured data for in 2026?
Its most visible use is rich results: stars, price, availability or breadcrumbs next to your result. That is where schema markup SEO pays off.
But Google has spent two years trimming the list. This is what remains and what no longer shows:
| Criterion | Status | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Product and merchant listing (Product, Offer) | Shown | Online shops |
| Reviews (Review, AggregateRating) | Shown, with stricter rules since July 2026 | Products, recipes, software |
| Breadcrumbs (BreadcrumbList) | Shown | Any site with sections |
| Article, video and event | Shown | Media, blogs and organisers |
| Company and local business (Organization, LocalBusiness) | Helps show the logo and business details | Every business |
| FAQs (FAQPage) | No longer shown since 7 May 2026 | — |
| How-to (HowTo) | Retired in 2023 | — |
| Practice problem | Retired in January 2026 | — |
| Estimated salary, courses, vehicles and three more | Retired in June 2025 | — |
Retired markup carries no penalty
AI
Does structured data help you appear in AI?
It is the question of 2026, and Google and Microsoft give different answers:
Google · AI Overviews and AI Mode
- No special schema is needed to appear.
- Being indexed and eligible for a snippet is enough.
- It asks that the data match the visible text.
- It warns against overfocusing on markup.
Microsoft · Bing and Copilot
- It has said schema helps its models understand content.
- Copilot relies on Bing’s index.
- It measures citations in Bing Webmaster Tools.
- It guarantees no citation: it is one more signal.
My practical reading: structured data is not the lever that puts you in an AI answer. But it does help every engine read the same facts about your business: name, logo, profiles, prices and address.
What decides whether you get cited is in the guide to AI visibility: content that answers and third-party mentions.
By type of site
Which structured data should you add for your type of site?
You do not need to mark up everything. Start with this:
| Criterion | Essential | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Service or B2B business | Organization on the home page | Service on each service page, BreadcrumbList |
| Local business | LocalBusiness with address and phone | Google Business Profile with the same details |
| Online shop | Product with Offer on each product page | Genuine reviews and a Merchant Center feed |
| SaaS or software | Organization and SoftwareApplication | Offer with each plan’s price |
| Blog or publisher | Article with author and dates | Person for each author, BreadcrumbList |
If you sell products, Product markup gives the best return: price and availability in the result. If you sell services, the value lies mainly in your company being clearly identified, which is where schema SEO starts.
Tool
JSON-LD generator: your structured data in a minute
Choose the type, fill in your details and copy the code. Then paste it into the right page and check it:
On a WordPress site, SEO plugins generate almost all of this for you. The generator helps you check that what they generate says the right thing.
Validate
How to check structured data: the tools
There are two free tools and each one looks at something different:
| Criterion | What it tells you | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Google’s Rich Results Test | Whether the markup qualifies for a Google rich result and which errors it has | Before publishing and after every change |
| Schema Markup Validator | Whether the code is correct according to schema.org, even if Google does not use it | For Service, Organization and types without a rich result |
| Search Console · Enhancements | Errors and warnings across every indexed page | Every month, to keep an eye on the whole site |
To check structured data for Google, use the Rich Results Test. The old Structured Data Testing Tool no longer exists: its successor for any type is the Schema Markup Validator.
Paste the URL or the code
In the Rich Results Test you can test a live page or a code snippet before uploading it.Review errors and warnings
Errors prevent the rich result; warnings are recommended properties that are missing. Fix the errors first.Compare it with what people see
The price, name and rating in the code must be the same as what the visitor reads on the page.Monitor it in Search Console
In the Enhancements section you will see whether errors reappear on other pages that share the same template.
A test without errors does not guarantee the rich result: Google decides whether to show it. But with errors, it certainly will not.
Mistakes
Common structured data mistakes
- Marking up data that is not visible: ratings, prices or questions that are not on the page. Google considers this against its guidelines.
- Prices with symbols or text: the price goes in as a number (“450”) and the currency separately (“GBP”).
- Different company details in each place: name, address and phone must match your Google profile and social media.
- Relative URLs for the logo or images: always use the full address with https://.
- Duplicate plugins: two plugins generating two different Organization blocks on the same page.
Key points
- Structured data describes your content with schema.org; Google recommends JSON-LD.
- Google stopped showing FAQs on 7 May 2026; product, review, breadcrumb and article results remain.
- It is not a requirement for Google’s AI, but it helps every engine read the same facts about you.
- Check it with the Rich Results Test and monitor errors in Search Console.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about structured data
What is structured data?
Structured data is code that describes the content of a page in a format machines understand: who the company is, which product is on sale, at what price, who wrote an article. It is based on the schema.org vocabulary, and Google recommends writing it in JSON-LD, a block of code that does not change what the visitor sees.
What is schema markup?
Schema markup is structured data written with the schema.org vocabulary, which Google, Bing and other search engines share. It defines types, such as Organization, Product or LocalBusiness, and their properties, such as name, price or address. When someone says “add schema to the site”, they mean adding structured data with that vocabulary.
Does structured data help you appear in ChatGPT or AI Overviews?
For Google, it is not a requirement: it says no special schema is needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Microsoft, on the other hand, has said it helps its Copilot models understand content. It is useful for giving consistent facts about your business, but it does not replace clear content and third-party mentions.
Does FAQ schema still work?
As a rich result in Google, no: expandable FAQs stopped appearing on 7 May 2026 and Google removed the documentation in June. FAQPage markup is still valid schema.org and carries no penalty, but it no longer produces a rich result in Google.
How do I check structured data?
With Google’s Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results), which tells you whether a page has valid structured data for Google’s rich results and which errors it has. To validate any schema.org type, even one Google does not use, there is the Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org). Search Console then monitors errors across the site.
Does schema markup improve SEO rankings?
Not directly. Google does not use it as a ranking factor, but it can give your result stars, a price or breadcrumbs, which usually improves clicks. It also helps search engines understand who you are and what you offer. Markup that Google stops showing carries no penalty.
Where does the JSON-LD go on my website?
Inside a script tag of type application/ld+json, in the head or the body of the page. Company data (Organization or LocalBusiness) usually goes on the home page or on every page. Product, service or article data goes on the page for each one. In WordPress, SEO plugins generate it for you.
References
Sources
Accessed and verified on 29 October 2026.
- Google Search Central. Introduction to structured data and rich results gallery.
- Google Search Central. Documentation changelog: FAQ (8 May and 15 June 2026), practice problem (6 January 2026) and reviews (24 July 2026).
- Google Search Central. AI features and your website and guide to optimising for generative AI (10 July 2026).
- PPC Land. Structured data types retired in 2025 and January 2026.
- Search Engine Journal. John Mueller on markup types that come and go (11 November 2025).
- Search Engine Roundtable. Microsoft confirms schema helps its Copilot models (March 2025).
- Schema.org, Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator.
This article was created with the help of AI and reviewed by José Galán. I take great care over every post and every translation, but the odd mistake can still slip through. If you find one, write to me: you will be helping me improve.
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