Structured data
Structured data is schema.org markup that describes your pages to search engines so products, prices, and reviews can appear as rich results.
What is structured data?
Structured data is a standardized way to describe a page’s content so search engines can unambiguously tell that something is a product, a price, a review, or an FAQ. It uses the schema.org vocabulary and is usually added as JSON-LD inside a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag in the page source. Google recommends JSON-LD specifically, but it also parses microdata and RDFa.
Why does structured data matter?
Structured data is not a direct ranking factor on its own, but it makes a page eligible for rich results — the enhanced search listings that show things like price, availability, and star ratings. That can lift your click-through rate without moving you up a position. For an online store it is often the difference between a plain text link and a result that stands out in the search results.
Common use cases
- Product schema with
offers(price,priceCurrency,availability) so price and stock status can show directly in Google. - AggregateRating and Review to surface star ratings on product pages — requires real review data on the page.
- BreadcrumbList so your path shows instead of the raw URL.
- FAQPage on information and product pages with question-and-answer content.
- Organization with logo and contact details on the homepage.
Shopify perspective
Most Shopify themes inject basic Product JSON-LD automatically, but the markup is often incomplete — typically missing review data or unique product identifiers (gtin, mpn). Star ratings therefore usually require a review app or custom code. Also avoid duplicate schema when both the theme and an app add it. Always validate real URLs in Google’s Rich Results Test and schema.org’s Schema Markup Validator before assuming it works.