What structured data does

How it works

A person can tell at a glance that a page shows a recipe or a company's address. A search engine has to work that out from the text. Structured data tells it directly, using the shared vocabulary of schema.org. The usual format is JSON-LD, a script block in the HTML:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Smith & Partners",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/",
  "logo": "https://www.example.com/logo.png"
}
</script>

This can lead to rich results, with star ratings, prices, event dates or the logo in the knowledge panel. There is no entitlement to them; Google decides whether to show them. AI services read the data as well; see What Organization data and sameAs do.

bytereport reads every JSON-LD block on the start page and shows their types (@type).

What matters

• Valid JSON. One missing comma or quotation mark makes the whole block unreadable, and search engines ignore it. bytereport reports such blocks.
• The right type. For a company, Organization at least makes sense; for a business with an address and opening hours, LocalBusiness. Depending on the page, add Product, Article or Event.
• Only what is visible. The data must match the visible content. Information that is not on the page breaches Google's guidelines.
• Required fields. For every type of rich result, Google lists fields without which it will not appear. The Rich Results Test shows what is missing.

How to set it up

SEO plugins generate basic data such as Organization or WebSite themselves; you enter the company name, logo and address once in their settings. Shop systems usually supply Product data. For anything else, your agency adds a JSON-LD block to the page template.

Check the result with Google's Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results) or the Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org).