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Structured Data & Schema Markup Guide

Structured data helps search engines understand your content and can earn you rich results — star ratings, FAQs, breadcrumbs, and more directly in search.

11 min readUpdated March 2026

1. What is structured data?

Structured data is a standardized format (using the Schema.org vocabulary) that provides explicit information about a page's content. It tells search engines "this is an article, written by this author, published on this date" rather than leaving them to guess.

2. Why structured data matters for SEO

  • Rich results: Star ratings, FAQs, how-to steps, and product info shown directly in SERPs
  • Higher CTR: Rich results take up more space and attract more clicks
  • Voice search: Structured data helps assistants surface your content
  • Knowledge Graph: Organization and person schemas feed Google's Knowledge Graph
Structured data itself is not a ranking factor, but the rich results it enables can significantly improve click-through rate.

3. JSON-LD basics

Google recommends JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) over Microdata or RDFa. It is placed in a <script> tag and does not affect your HTML structure.

HTML
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebPage",
  "name": "Page Title",
  "description": "Page description"
}
</script>
In Next.js, use dangerouslySetInnerHTML to inject JSON-LD. Place it in your page component, not in the layout.

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4. Article schema

Use Article schema for blog posts, news articles, and guide pages.

JSON-LD
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Your Article Title",
  "description": "Brief description of the article.",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Author Name"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Brand Name",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-01-15",
  "dateModified": "2026-03-10",
  "image": "https://example.com/article-image.jpg"
}

5. FAQ schema

FAQ schema can expand your search result with collapsible question-answer pairs.

JSON-LD
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is structured data?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page."
      }
    }
  ]
}

6. Product schema

For e-commerce pages, Product schema enables rich results with price, availability, and review ratings.

JSON-LD
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Product Name",
  "image": "https://example.com/product.jpg",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "29.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.8",
    "reviewCount": "142"
  }
}

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JSON-LD
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://example.com" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Guides", "item": "https://example.com/guides" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Schema Guide" }
  ]
}

8. Organization schema

Place Organization schema on your homepage to define your brand in Google's Knowledge Graph.

JSON-LD
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Dr Urls",
  "url": "https://drurls.com",
  "logo": "https://drurls.com/DrURL.jpeg",
  "sameAs": ["https://twitter.com/drurls"]
}

9. Testing & validation

  • Google Rich Results Test: Check if your page is eligible for rich results
  • Schema Markup Validator: Validate syntax against Schema.org specs
  • Google Search Console: Monitor structured data errors at scale
  • Dr Urls: Automatically checks structured data during every audit

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Structured Data & Schema Markup Guide | Dr Urls | Dr Urls