Structured Data (Schema.org) for Business Websites

Search engines read your website, but they do not automatically know whether a number is a phone number, a price or a postcode. Structured data removes that ambiguity. This article explains what structured data is, which types make sense for business websites and what you can realistically expect from it.

What is structured data?

Structured data is additional, machine-readable information in a page's source code. It describes the content using a fixed vocabulary so search engines can interpret it unambiguously. The most widely used vocabulary is Schema.org, a joint project of several search engine providers.

Google supports three formats: JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa. Google recommends JSON-LD because it is the easiest to implement and maintain. The code sits in its own block in the page source, separate from the visible HTML.

A simplified example for a company:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Example GmbH",
  "url": "https://www.example.com",
  "logo": "https://www.example.com/logo.png",
  "telephone": "+49 431 000000",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Musterstraße 1",
    "postalCode": "24103",
    "addressLocality": "Kiel",
    "addressCountry": "DE"
  }
}

What does structured data do?

Structured data can achieve two things. First, it helps search engines understand your company, products or articles unambiguously and tell them apart from similarly named offerings. Second, it can enable rich results: enhanced search listings with star ratings, prices, event dates or breadcrumb navigation.

There is an important caveat. Google stresses that structured data makes rich results possible but does not guarantee them; Google decides case by case. Structured data is also not a requirement for appearing in Google AI Overviews. According to Google, no special markup is needed for that.

Which rich results Google still shows

Google has significantly reduced its range of rich results in recent years. If your markup was built from older guides, you should know the current status (as of November 2026):

The complete, current list is in the Search Gallery on Google Search Central. For discontinued types: the markup does no harm and need not be removed in a hurry, but it no longer has any visible effect in Google Search. Other search engines may still use it.

Useful types for business websites

For most company websites, a small selection is enough:

• Organization: Name, logo, address, contact details and social profiles (via the sameAs property). Google recommends placing this on the home page or an about page, not necessarily on every page. The logo can be used in search results and the knowledge panel.
• LocalBusiness: For businesses with a location that customers visit, ideally using the most specific subtype, such as Dentist or AutoRepair. Adds address, opening hours and geo-coordinates.
• BreadcrumbList: Reflects your page hierarchy. Google uses it to categorise pages in search results; according to the documentation, the visible breadcrumb trail is currently available in desktop search.
• Article or BlogPosting: For expert articles, including author, publication date and last-modified date.
• Product with Offer: For online shops, including price, availability and, where applicable, ratings.
• Event: For events, webinars or trade fair appearances, with date and location.
• JobPosting: For job ads on your own website.

Rules you must follow

Google has general guidelines for structured data. Violations can lead to lost rich results or a manual action. The key points:

• Mark up only what is visible: The data must match what visitors see on the page. Hidden ratings or prices are not allowed.
• No empty pages: Pages created solely to hold markup are not permitted.
• Complete required properties: Every rich result has required properties. If they are missing, the page is not eligible.
• Keep it current: Remove outdated prices, past events or filled positions from the markup.
• No self-controlled reviews: If a business controls the reviews about itself, its pages using LocalBusiness or Organization markup are not eligible for star ratings in search results.

Implementation in practice

On WordPress, SEO plugins handle part of the markup automatically, for example for organisation, articles and breadcrumbs. On custom-built websites, such as those using Next.js, it makes sense to generate the JSON-LD from the same data that renders the visible page. That keeps both layers in sync automatically.

Common mistakes include duplicate Organization blocks from theme and plugin, wrong date formats, unreachable image URLs, and details that were not updated after a move or a price change.

Structured data and AI search

It is often claimed that structured data is the key to being mentioned in AI answers. Google's documentation says otherwise: no special Schema.org markup is required for AI Overviews or AI Mode. The same rule applies as in classic search, namely that markup must match the visible text.

It remains useful all the same. Clean information about your organisation, address and services makes your company data unambiguous, which benefits every system that analyses your website. Just do not expect it to guarantee visibility.

Checklist: reviewing your structured data

1. List your site's page types: home, services, blog, products, jobs, contact.
2. Assign the appropriate Schema.org vocabulary to each type.
3. Add Organization to the home or about page, and LocalBusiness where relevant.
4. Test every template with Google's Rich Results Test.
5. Also check general syntax with the Schema Markup Validator from Schema.org.
6. After go-live, monitor the rich result reports in Google Search Console.
7. Do not plan new FAQ or HowTo markup if your goal is a rich result in Google.
8. Retest the markup after every theme, plugin or template update.

Structured data with Simplify Data

We review structured data as part of our SEO audits and, where needed, implement it directly in WordPress or Next.js projects. We make sure markup and visible content come from the same source. Go to SEO audit

Sources

• Google Search Central: Introduction to structured data markup
• Google Search Central: Structured data markup that Google Search supports (Search Gallery)
• Google Search Central: Documentation updates
• Google Search Central: Organization structured data
• Schema.org