Adding Structured Data to Your Pages
Pick a schema type, fill in the fields, and this tool produces valid JSON-LD you can paste into your page. It supports Article, LocalBusiness, FAQPage and Product, and the output updates live as you type.
Structured data is markup that describes your page's content in a format search engines parse directly. Instead of inferring that a page is a recipe with a 40-minute cook time, they read it as a stated fact. That reliability is what makes rich results possible.
Why JSON-LD rather than microdata
There are three ways to add structured data: JSON-LD, microdata, and RDFa. Google explicitly recommends JSON-LD, and it is what this tool generates.
The practical advantage is separation. JSON-LD sits in a single script block, usually in the head, entirely apart from your HTML. Microdata requires attributes scattered across the markup, which means every template change risks breaking the structured data, and reading the raw HTML becomes harder.
JSON-LD is also far easier to generate programmatically and to validate, because it is one self-contained object you can inspect rather than a pattern spread across a document.
The types this tool covers
- Article — for blog posts and news content. Supports headline, author, publish date, image and description.
- LocalBusiness — for businesses with a physical location. Feeds Google's understanding of your name, address, phone and site.
- FAQPage — for question-and-answer sections. Pairs with the FAQ Generator if you need the questions themselves.
- Product — for product pages, including an offers block with price, currency and availability.
The rule that gets sites penalised
Structured data must describe content that is actually visible on the page. Marking up a price that does not appear, review ratings you invented, or FAQ questions the visitor cannot see is a structured data violation, and Google issues manual actions for it.
This trips people up most often with FAQ and Review markup, where the temptation to add markup without adding the visible content is strongest. If you want FAQ markup, publish a visible FAQ section. If you want review markup, show real reviews.
The other common violation is marking up content that is not what the type describes — using Product schema on a category listing, for example, or Article schema on a homepage. Type accuracy matters as much as content accuracy.
What structured data actually gets you
Structured data is not a ranking factor. Google has been consistent about this. What it does is make your result eligible for enhanced presentation — star ratings, prices, publication dates, breadcrumbs, recipe cards — which can substantially increase click-through rate from the same position.
Eligibility is not entitlement. Google decides whether to show a rich result based on query, device, and its own judgement about your site. Valid markup makes you eligible; it does not guarantee display, and rich results can appear and disappear over time.
There is a growing second benefit: structured data helps machines that are not search engines. AI assistants and answer engines increasingly parse structured data to extract facts, so clean markup makes your content easier to cite accurately.
Where to put the markup and how to test it
Paste the generated script block into the head of the relevant page. It also works in the body, but the head is conventional and keeps it out of your content markup. Each page should carry structured data describing that page specifically — not a single site-wide block copied everywhere.
Before publishing, run the page through Google's Rich Results Test, which reports whether the markup is valid and which rich result types it qualifies for. The Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org is the stricter general-purpose alternative when you are using types Google does not support rich results for.
After publishing, Search Console's Enhancements reports show how your structured data is performing across the site and flag errors at scale — which is how you catch a template change that broke markup on 400 pages.
Common structured data mistakes
- Marking up content that is not visible on the page, which is the violation most likely to trigger a manual action.
- Using one generic block sitewide instead of per-page markup describing each page.
- Leaving placeholder or example values in production after copying a template.
- Contradicting the page — a schema price of $49 while the page shows $59.
- Adding Review markup for reviews of your own business on your own site, which Google's guidelines disallow for self-serving reviews.
- Forgetting to update markup when the page content changes, so the two drift apart.
Frequently asked questions
Does structured data improve rankings?
No. Google has stated it is not a ranking factor. It makes your result eligible for rich presentation — star ratings, prices, dates — which can lift click-through rate significantly from the same ranking position.
Where should the JSON-LD script go?
In the page's head is conventional and keeps it separate from your content markup, though Google reads it from the body too. What matters is that each page carries markup describing that specific page.
Can I mark up content that is not visible on the page?
No. Structured data must describe visible content. Marking up hidden prices, invented ratings, or FAQ questions that do not appear is a policy violation and can result in a manual action.
Why is my rich result not showing?
Valid markup makes you eligible, not guaranteed. Google decides case by case based on query, device and site quality. Confirm the markup is valid with the Rich Results Test first, then check Search Console's Enhancements report for errors.
Can one page have multiple schema types?
Yes, and it is common — an article page might carry Article and FAQPage markup together. Use separate script blocks or an @graph array, and make sure each type accurately describes content actually on that page.