What Is Structured Data?

A page shows "₹999" and a human knows it's the price. A machine sees a string. Structured data is a block of labelled facts added to the page — this is a Product, this is its price, this is its currency — so nothing has to be inferred.

The vocabulary is schema.org, shared across search engines. The usual format is JSON-LD: a script tag holding JSON, kept separate from your markup, which is why it's the recommended option — you can change your layout without touching it.

<script type="application/ld+json">{  "@context": "https://schema.org",  "@type": "Article",  "headline": "What Is an API?",  "description": "An API is a defined way for one program to ask another for something.",  "datePublished": "2026-06-01",  "dateModified": "2026-08-01",  "author": {    "@type": "Person",    "name": "Daksh Bathla",    "url": "https://navitallabs.com/learning/instructors/daksh"  },  "publisher": {    "@type": "Organization",    "name": "Navital Labs",    "url": "https://navitallabs.com"  }}</script>

schema.org has hundreds of types. Almost nobody needs more than the eight above, and adding obscure types has no observed benefit — the value is in the ones search engines actually consume.

• Every fact in the markup should be findable by a reader on that page
• Dates in the markup must match the dates shown
• The author named must be the actual author, with a real page
• No aggregate ratings without real, visible reviews
• Update the markup when the page changes — stale structured data is wrong structured data

Hand-writing JSON-LD per page guarantees drift: the page changes, the markup doesn't. Generate it from the same source the page renders from, and the two can't disagree.

export function articleSchema(lesson: Lesson, author: Instructor) {  return {    "@context": "https://schema.org",    "@type": "Article",    headline: lesson.title,    description: lesson.description,    datePublished: lesson.publishedAt,    dateModified: lesson.updatedAt,    author: {      "@type": "Person",      name: author.name,      url: `https://navitallabs.com/learning/instructors/${author.slug}`,    },  };}

One function, one source of truth, and the markup is correct by construction rather than by someone remembering.

1. 01Run the page through a rich results testSearch engines publish free validators that report errors and warnings against a live URL or pasted HTML.
2. 02Fix errors; read warnings and decideErrors block the feature. Warnings are usually optional fields worth adding if you genuinely have the data.
3. 03Re-check after a template changeThis is where drift enters — a layout edit that removes a visible date leaves the markup claiming one.

Expect nothing dramatic. Structured data doesn't raise rankings by itself; it makes your result more informative and makes your page easier to understand and cite. Both are worth having, and neither is a shortcut.