Structured data: what it is, what it is for and which to use on your website

Imagine handing your business card to someone who cannot read Spanish. They see a name, some numbers and an address, but they do not know which is which. Is the number the phone or the tax ID? Is the name the company's or a person's?

That is how Google sees many pages: text without labels. Structured data is the way to tell it “this is the name, this is the phone, this is a frequently asked question”. And today, with AI search, being understood without guessing is worth more than ever.

What is structured data?

It is labels in a standardized format that explain the meaning of a page's content to Google. According to Google Search Central, you help Google by including explicit clues about the meaning of your pages through structured data.

The most used vocabulary is schema.org: types such as Organization, Service, FAQPage (frequently asked questions) or BlogPosting (article).

Which format does Google recommend?

JSON-LD. Google supports three formats, but considers JSON-LD the easiest solution to implement and maintain:

Format	How it works	Recommendation
JSON-LD	A block of code separate from the visible content	The one recommended by Google
Microdata	Attributes inside the HTML	Harder to maintain
RDFa	HTML5 attributes	Harder to maintain

The practical advantage of JSON-LD: you can generate it automatically from your site's data, without touching the design. This very site does it that way on every page.

What structured data does a service business need?

The kind that describes who you are, what you offer and what your pages answer:

1. Organization on the home page: name, logo, contact, address. According to Google's organization guide, it helps Google understand your company's administrative details; if you are a local business, Google also recommends the most specific LocalBusiness subtype.
2. Service on each service page.
3. FAQPage wherever you have real frequently asked questions.
4. BlogPosting on each article, with date, author and image.
5. BreadcrumbList to show the navigation path.

Common mistake: marking up information that is not visible on the page or inventing reviews in the schema. Besides being misleading, it goes against Google's guidelines and can cost you your rich results.

Does structured data guarantee rich results?

No. Google says it clearly: the more recommended properties you include, the more likely your information is to appear, but there is no guarantee. That is why it is worth validating with the Rich Results Test and keeping an eye on Search Console.

And for AI search?

It helps you be understood, although it is not a requirement. Google states that no special markup is needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, as we explain in what GEO is. Even so, a site that clearly declares its name, its locations and its services is easier for any system to interpret. There is another tool designed specifically for language models: the llms.txt file.

In short

Structured data is your website's business card written in Google's language: which part is the name, which is the phone, which is a frequently asked question. Use JSON-LD, mark up only what is visible on the page and validate with Google's tools. We implement it automatically on every page in our SEO and GEO with AI service.