Structured data

What is structured data?

When Google reads your page, it sees text. Structured data gives Google context — it tells search engines not just what the words say, but what they mean.

Without structured data, Google might read “4.8 stars, 312 reviews” as plain text. With structured data, Google knows those are ratings for a specific product, can verify them, and can display them directly in search results.

Structured data is written in a format called JSON-LD and lives in a <script> tag in your page HTML. It's invisible to visitors but highly visible to search engines.

What it looks like

Here's a simple example for a local business:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Evalta AI",
  "url": "https://evaltaai.com",
  "telephone": "+1-555-123-4567",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "San Francisco",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  }
}
</script>

This tells Google exactly what type of entity the page is about, enabling richer search results for relevant queries.

Why structured data matters

Structured data unlocks rich results — enhanced appearances in Google Search that go beyond the standard blue link. Rich results are significantly more visible and generate higher click-through rates.

Rich results by schema type

• Product + Offer — shows price, availability (“In stock”), and star ratings directly in search results. Critical for e-commerce.
• FAQPage — expands your search result to show accordion Q&A directly on the results page. Can double the vertical space your result occupies, pushing competitors down.
• Article / BlogPosting — enables inclusion in the Top Stories carousel and adds the publication date to your search result.
• BreadcrumbList — shows your site's navigation path in search results (Home › Blog › Article Title). Makes your result look more structured and trustworthy.
• LocalBusiness — populates Google's Knowledge Panel with your business information, phone number, hours, and location.
• Event — shows event date, time, and location directly in search results. Essential for event pages.
• SoftwareApplication — shows app ratings and pricing in search results. Useful for SaaS and app product pages.
• Organization / WebSite — enables the sitelinks search box in your branded search results and strengthens your Knowledge Panel.

Common structured data mistakes

Evalta checks for all of these automatically:

• Missing required fields. Every schema type has required fields — without them, Google won't show the rich result even if the rest of the markup is correct. Product schema without a price, Article schema without an author, FAQPage without properly nested answers.
• Wrong date format. Dates must be in ISO 8601 format (2024-03-15 or 2024-03-15T09:00:00Z). Dates written as “March 15, 2024” or “15/03/2024” are invalid.
• Relative URLs. Image, URL, and sameAs properties must use absolute URLs (https://yoursite.com/image.jpg), not relative paths (/image.jpg).
• Mismatched content. Google's guidelines require structured data to reflect what's actually on the page. A product page with a 5-star AggregateRating but no visible reviews on the page will be penalised.
• Wrong nesting. Some schema types contain others. An FAQPage contains Questions, which contain Answers. Getting the nesting wrong makes the whole schema invalid.
• Missing schema entirely. Many pages that would clearly benefit from structured data (blog posts, product pages, FAQ sections, contact pages) have none at all. Evalta surfaces these as opportunities, not just errors.

What Evalta validates

Evalta validates your structured data on every scan against the same rules Google uses for the Rich Results Test. No manual checking — it runs automatically across every page you've selected.

We check:

• Required fields — every required property for each schema type, matched against Google's Rich Results specification
• Data types — dates in ISO 8601, absolute URLs, prices as numbers or valid strings, rating values within valid ranges
• Structural errors — wrong nesting, missing required nested entities, invalid @type values
• Opportunities — pages that would benefit from schema they don't have, detected from page URL patterns and content signals

Supported schema types

Organization, WebSite, Product, Offer, AggregateRating, Review, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, Article, BlogPosting, NewsArticle, LocalBusiness, Event, SoftwareApplication, HowTo, Recipe, JobPosting, and more.

Fixing structured data issues

Open the AI chat for any structured data issue. The agent provides the complete, corrected JSON-LD for your specific page — not a generic template, but markup that references your actual page content. You can copy and paste it directly.

The agent also tells you where to add it — which varies depending on your setup:

• WordPress — Yoast SEO and RankMath both have built-in structured data tools. For custom schema, use a plugin like Schema Pro or add it via your theme's header.php.
• Shopify — Product schema is usually generated automatically. For additional schema types, edit your theme's Liquid templates or use an app like JSON-LD for SEO.
• Next.js — add JSON-LD in your page component using a <script> tag with type="application/ld+json", or use a library like next-json-ld.
• Squarespace / Wix — both platforms inject basic structured data automatically. For additional types, use the custom code injection feature in your site settings.
• Any site — paste the JSON-LD into a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag anywhere in your page's <head> or <body>.

Testing your structured data

After adding or fixing structured data, re-scan your page in Evalta to confirm the issues are resolved. You can also use Google's own tools to verify:

• Google Rich Results Test — search.google.com/test/rich-results — shows which rich results your page is eligible for
• Schema.org Validator — validator.schema.org — validates all schema types, not just Google-specific ones
• Google Search Console — under Enhancements, shows how Google has processed your structured data across your whole site and flags any errors it's found