Short answer: Structured data is JSON-LD code that tells Google and AI systems clearly what is on a page: a business, a product, a price, a rating, an article, an event. For most businesses in 2026, the most valuable types are Organization or LocalBusiness, Product with offers and ratings, Article, BreadcrumbList and Event. FAQ and HowTo no longer earn special results for most sites, but structured data still helps search engines understand your content.
Structured data is often sold as a trick for getting stars in search results. In reality its main job is to explain to a machine, without ambiguity, who you are and what you offer. That matters more and more with AI search, where Google and other tools assemble answers from data taken from many sites.
What it is and what it looks like
Structured data uses the vocabulary from schema.org. Google recommends the JSON-LD format: a separate block of code in the head or body of the page, kept apart from the content. On WordPress it is usually generated by SEO plugins such as Yoast or Rank Math, and WooCommerce adds product data.
What still has a visible effect
| Type | For whom | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Product and Offer | Online shops | Price, availability, ratings and delivery in results and on the Shopping tab |
| Organization and LocalBusiness | Every business | A clear identity: name, logo, address, phone, opening hours, social profiles |
| BreadcrumbList | Sites with several levels | A breadcrumb trail instead of a long URL in the result |
| Article | Blogs and news | Better understanding of author and publication date |
| Event | Event organisers | Events shown with date and venue |
| Review snippet | Products, recipes, software | Stars, but not for a business rating itself on its own site |
What has been retired or restricted
- FAQ rich results have only been shown for authoritative government and health sites since August 2023. For everyone else they no longer produce drop-down questions in the results.
- HowTo rich results have been removed entirely.
- Stars for your own business (LocalBusiness and Organization ratings a business publishes about itself) have not been shown by Google since 2019.
- In 2025 Google stopped showing several more rarely used types.
That does not mean you should delete FAQ markup. It still labels the questions and answers on the page clearly and does no harm. Just do not expect a special display in the results.
Why it matters for AI search
AI systems try to understand entities: which business, where it is, what it offers, who the author is. Consistent data, with the same business name, address and phone number on the site, in your Google Business Profile and in your structured data, plus links to your social profiles through the sameAs property, helps those systems recognise you as one reliable entity. Structured data does not guarantee that an AI will cite you, but it removes ambiguity.
How to check your site
- Rich Results Test for an individual page shows which types Google sees and whether there are errors.
- Schema Markup Validator checks validity against the schema.org standard, including types Google does not display.
- The Enhancements section in Search Console shows errors across the whole site, such as products without a price or availability.
Rules you must not break
- The data must match what is visible on the page. A rating or price the visitor cannot see is a policy violation.
- Do not mark up fake or copied reviews.
- Do not add the same type several times with contradictory data. This is a common problem when both the theme and the SEO plugin generate markup.
A violation can lead to a manual action and the loss of all rich results on the site.
Frequently asked questions
Does structured data improve rankings directly?
Not directly. It helps Google understand the page and can increase clicks through a richer display, which is an indirect benefit.
Do I need a developer?
For the basic types on WordPress, a properly configured SEO plugin is enough. Special cases, such as events or multiple locations, need manual set-up.
How quickly will I see an effect?
Once Google reprocesses the page, usually within a few days to a few weeks.
Conclusion
Structured data is less of a trick and more of a hygiene factor: accurate, consistent and in line with what the page says. We check it in every SEO audit and set it up as part of our SEO services.
Related: Google AI Overviews: how to make your site a source · AI crawlers, robots.txt and llms.txt
