Structured Data
Structured data is any data organized in a predictable, machine-readable format that explicitly labels what information means — schema.org (implemented via JSON-LD) is the most common vocabulary used for this on the web, though the broader term includes other structured formats too.
Updated
November 12, 2026
Category
SEO Glossary
The core value of structured data is removing ambiguity: unstructured text requires a search engine or AI system to infer meaning from context, while structured data states facts explicitly and unambiguously (this number is a price, this date is a publish date, this name is an author) — which both improves traditional rich-result eligibility and, increasingly, gives AI systems more reliable material to extract and cite accurately without misinterpretation. Implementing structured data well requires it to genuinely and accurately reflect the visible content on the page; markup describing content that isn't actually present or visible violates search engine guidelines regardless of the format used.
Example
A recipe page marks up its exact cook time, ingredient list, and calorie count in structured data, letting search engines display that information directly in a rich result rather than requiring a reader to parse unstructured paragraph text to find it.
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