Schema markup, also called structured data, sounds intimidating. It's actually a simple idea. It's a small piece of code that labels the information on your page so search engines understand it without guessing. "This number is a price." "This is our phone number." "These are our opening hours."

You won't see it on your page, but Google does.

Why it's worth having

Better understanding. Google knows exactly what your business is, where it is and what you sell.

Richer search results. Structured data can make your pages eligible for enhanced listings, such as product prices and availability, review stars, breadcrumbs and more. Google decides whether to show them, so it's never guaranteed, but without markup you're usually not eligible at all.

More clicks. A richer listing tends to stand out on the results page.

The types that matter most

Organization or LocalBusiness

On your homepage: your business name, logo, address, phone, opening hours and social profiles. For local businesses, this supports your local SEO.

Product

On product pages: name, image, price, currency, availability and reviews. Most Shopify themes include this automatically.

BreadcrumbList

Shows how a page fits into your site, for example Home, Earrings, Silver Jhumka.

Article

On blog posts: headline, author, date and image.

FAQ

Useful for marking up questions and answers. Google now shows FAQ rich results only for a limited set of authoritative sites, so don't expect them to appear for most businesses. The FAQ content itself is still valuable for readers. See our FAQ page guide.

How to add it

On Shopify, modern themes add Product, Article and often Organization markup automatically. Custom LocalBusiness details can be added to the theme by a developer.

On WordPress, SEO plugins handle most common types through their settings.

Structured data is usually written in a format called JSON-LD and placed in the page's code.

How to test it

Paste a page URL into Google's Rich Results Test. It shows which structured data it found and whether there are errors or warnings. Google Search Console also has Enhancement reports once markup is detected across your site.

Common problems

• Two apps or plugins adding conflicting Product markup
• Prices or availability in the markup that don't match the page
• Marking up content that isn't visible to visitors, which goes against Google's guidelines
• Old, broken markup left behind by removed apps

The honest bottom line

Schema won't rescue a weak page. But on a good page, it helps Google understand and present you better. It's a small, one-time job with long-lasting benefits.

We set up structured data as part of our SEO work. It's also covered in our Shopify technical SEO guide. Questions? Ask us.