Structured data for beginners – Lesson 1.1 

What is structured data? 

 
Table of contents  
 

Learning objectives 

1. What is structured data? 

2. What are rich results? 

Advanced - Structured data with JSON-LD 

Key takeaways 

Learning objectives 
After this lesson, you’ll: 
● be able to explain what structured data is;  
● be able to explain what Schema.org is;  
● be able to recognize rich results;  
● be able to identify the types of rich results that fit your content.  

1. What is structured data? 

Let's go straight to an example. Take a look at Image 1. What can you make 
of it? Probably, you can immediately understand that this is a page with an 
article on blog engagement. You can tell the article's title, who wrote it, and 
the website it was published on. What about the image? At first glance, it 
has nothing to do with blog engagement. But, as humans, we can make 
connections between abstract, seemingly unrelated bits of information. So, 
we see the image, and we can tell how it connects to the title and the topic 
of the post.  
 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​1 / 12 
 

 
Image 1: A page containing an article 

 
However, search engines can’t make connections on their own. So, we need 
to help them read this page. We do that by speaking a language they 
understand.   
 
Structured data​ ​is code written in a specific format and with a 
particular vocabulary that search engines can understand​. You can find 
the ​vocabulary for structured data on​ ​Schema.org​. With the Schema 
vocabulary, you can mark up individual bits of content on a webpage and 
help search engines understand them. For it to work, you need to use a 
particular ​markup language​, for example, ​JSON-LD​. Put simply, JSON-LD is 
a way of writing JavaScript code.  
 
When you implement structured data with Schema.org, you tell search 
engines: “Hey, this page contains an article. The title is ​Increase blog 
engagement: 8 tips to boost shares and comments​. Marieke is the author of 
the article, and it was published on Yoast.com.” 
 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​2 / 12 
 

Why do you need structured data? 

To cut a long story short: structured data in the form of Schema.org is 
essential for SEO. Correctly implementing structured data might not give 
you better rankings, but it will indirectly make your site a better search 
result. 
 
Structured data makes it possible for search engines to display your content 
in an enhanced way. Enhanced search results, a.k.a. r​ ich results​,​ ​are 
eye-catching and, therefore, more clickable. Just getting the click is not 
enough, though. Once people land on your page, you have to give them 
high-quality content. If they like what they find on your page, they may stay 
on your website longer. That means you’ll have a lower bounce rate, which 
Google may interpret as a sign that your site deserves a high place in the 
search results.  
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​3 / 12 
 

2. What are rich results?  

To explain the concept of rich results, let’s first look at a regular desktop 
result or snippet (Image 2).  
 

 
Image 2: An example of a snippet  

 
The snippet above is an individual search result with black lines of text 
(called meta description) beneath the title. It is quite a standard, familiar 
type of search result. Now, compare that with the results displayed in the 
image below.  
 

 
Image 3: Examples of rich results 

 
These colorful results appear on the same search result page, just above the 
regular snippet. First, there is the recipe carousel that contains a few recipe 
cards. Then, there is a rich snippet with an image, star ratings, and the 
estimated preparation time. Finally, there is a video carousel. So, as you can 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​4 / 12 
 

probably tell, ​rich search results are the results that stand out due to 
their formatting and screen location.  

For many, getting a rich result for a specific piece of content can be an 
important goal. The results stand out and tend to g
​ enerate quite a few 
clicks​. Also, getting your content shown as a rich result is like a stamp of 
approval by Google. In a sea of content, your content was selected for a rich 
result. However, the main goal of rich results is to i​ nform the searcher​. It 
can help a user decide, directly from the search results page, if a particular 
search result is the one they are looking for. 

Let’s say you have a business delivering flowers. You have done a lot of work 
to rank well in the search engines for the term [flower delivery to the 
netherlands]. You rank pretty well, but your competitor has rich results, and 
you don’t. He directly shows his reviews in the search results, and his flower 
shop rates 4,4 out of 5 stars. His stars just naturally catch your eye. He 
might attract more clicks from searchers with his high rating only because 
he has a more ‘trustworthy’ profile.  

 
Image 4: A rich snippet with ratings  

 
When it comes to rich results, there is something to keep in mind. I​ t’s up to 
the search engines to determine if your listings get rich results. There 
are no guarantees you’ll get them. T
​ he best you can do is write great 
content, keep your website technically fit, and, of course, use structured 
data!  

Types of rich results 

There are different types of rich results. And, for every kind of rich result, 
there is a corresponding Schema.org type markup. For example, if you have 
a recipe site, you need to use the Schema.org type Recipe. For Books, there 
is a special Books Schema.org type, and one for Videos, News, etc. You get 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​5 / 12 
 

the point. Each type of content needs to be marked up with the 

corresponding Schema.org type markup.  

Let’s look at some of the rich results and their corresponding Schema.org 
types. However, note that these are just a few examples of the types of 
content that get rich results. Google continuously expands the list. So, if you 
want to keep up with it, visit ​Google’s search gallery​.   

Products 
Mark up products with S
​ chema.org/Product​, and you can get rich results in 
the search results. Your product can be enhanced with ratings, pricing, and 
availability, for example (Image 5). In this post, we explain how you can 
enhance your product listings in search engines​. 
 

 
Image 5: A product rich result 

 
 
Local businesses and organizations 
Your local business should present the correct structured data to search 
engines (​Schema.org/LocalBusiness)​. If you use this data, search engines will 
pick it up and might highlight your business in the results (Image 6). If you 
want to mark up your local business, you should read the article on l​ ocal 
business listings​.  

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​6 / 12 
 

 
Image 6: An example of a local business rich result (outlined in red) 

Recipes 
Rich results for recipes come in different forms. For example, they can be 
featured in a Recipe carousel. Those results are usually at the top of the 
search results page. Naturally, they are the ones that people see first. In 
addition, recipes can appear as individual rich results, featuring an image, 
ratings, cooking time, etc. (Image 7). To activate rich results for recipes, you 
need to add ​Schema.org/Recipe​ data on your site. 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​7 / 12 
 

 
Image 7: An example of recipe rich results 

 
 
Video  
If you regularly post videos on your site, it would be great if they get a 
prominent place in the search results (Image 8). For some videos, it’s also 
possible to a
​ dd enhancements​ such as a ‘live’ badge or timestamps. Check 
out the ​possibilities for Video on Schema.org​. To make this easy, you can 
also consider using ​Yoast Video SEO​.  
 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​8 / 12 
 

 
Image 8: Examples of video rich results  

 
Jobs 
Marking up your jobs with S
​ chema.org/JobPosting​ might make it possible 
for your job listings to be included in the Google Jobs interface (Image 9).  

 
Image 9: An examples of job listings displayed as rich results  

FAQ  
The ​FAQ markup​ lets you get rich results for your FAQ pages (Image 10). You 
can also easily build the content for these pages with our F
​ AQ content block​.  
 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​9 / 12 
 

 
Image 10: An example of an FAQ rich result 
 
HowTo 
Schema.org/HowTo​ markup gives you rich results for your how-to guides. 
Yoast SEO also has a H
​ ow-to block​ that automatically adds the necessary 
Schema markup to your page. Note that H
​ ow-to rich results currently work 
on mobile only​.  
 

 
Image 11: An example of a mobile How-to rich result  

 
Knowledge Graph Panel 
The ​Knowledge Graph Panel​ is the big block of information on the 
right-hand side in the Google search results. This block details different bits 
of information about a particular search result. Google fills this graph by 
checking and evaluating related content about this specific subject. One of 
the sources it checks is the structured data of a site. If you have a validated 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​10 / 12 
 

company or if you are an authority on a certain subject, you might see your 
name, logo, and social media profiles appear (Image 12). 

 
Image 12: An example of a Knowledge Panel Graph (outlined in red) 

Do you want to learn more about Google and rich results? Read the article 
How to get great-looking Google results​!  

Does structured data work on mobile? 

Yes, the results of implementing structured data work everywhere. Mobile is 
one of the places where the results of a Schema implementation are most 
visible.  

If a page meets Google’s criteria, you can book movie tickets or reserve a 
table at a restaurant directly from the search results. If you implement 
structured data correctly, you could also be eligible for several interactive 
extras in the mobile search results pages. If ​you add AMP to the equation​, 
you can get even more Google approved interactive goodies on mobile. 

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​11 / 12 
 

Advanced: Structured data with JSON-LD 

If you are not skilled in writing code, implementing Schema.org may sound 
scary. But don’t worry. As you will see later in the course, Yoast SEO makes 
implementing Schema easy. How? It automatically adds the essential 
Schema bits to your site!  
 
Still, you might want to learn more about how we do that. Well, for one, we 
use the markup language ​JSON-LD​. This JavaScript-based data format makes 
it much easier to add structured data since it forms a block of code and is 
no longer embedded in the HTML of your page. That means that it is simpler 
to write and maintain, plus both humans and machines can understand it 
better.  
 
JSON-LD is the method we prefer to use at Yoast. The methods that were 
used to implement Schema.org before JSON-LD was available were 
cumbersome. You had to add Schema.org attributes to pieces of code in 
your markup. The markup might have to change from page to page, even 
though you included the same header everywhere, for instance. This made 
Schema.org a pain to implement. For us as plugin (and thus back-end) 
developers, it pushed it entirely into the realm of front-end development. 
JSON-LD allows you (and us) to collect all the data about your product and 
show them in one small piece of JavaScript code that can just be pushed 
anywhere into the page.  

Key takeaways 
● Structured data​ i​ s code ​written in a specific format and with a 
particular vocabulary that search engines can understand.  
● The vocabulary of structured data is ​Schema.org​.  
● JSON-LD is a markup language​ you use to implement structured 
data. Put simply; it is a way of writing JavaScript code. This is our 
preferred language​, and we recommend you use it too!  
● Implementing structured data w
​ ith Schema.org can give you​ rich 
results​.  

 
Yoast SEO academy  ​ ​12 / 12