What Is Structured Data? A Guide for Small Business Websites

Structured data is code added to your website that helps search engines understand the content on each page in a standardised, machine-readable format. Rather than leaving Google to guess whether a piece of text is a product name, a review, a recipe, or an opening hour, structured data tells it explicitly — and in return, Google can display your content as enhanced “rich results” in search.

If you’ve ever seen star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, or event dates appearing directly in Google search results, that’s structured data at work. For small businesses, it’s one of the most underused SEO opportunities available.

How Structured Data Works

Structured data is typically written in a format called JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) and inserted into a page’s HTML. It uses vocabularies from Schema.org — a collaborative project backed by Google, Bing, and Yahoo — to define entities and their properties.

For example, a local business listing in structured data might specify the business name, address, phone number, opening hours, and price range in a format that Google can reliably extract and display in knowledge panels or local search results. A product page might include the product name, price, availability, and review rating — enabling those star ratings you see in product search results.

Types of Structured Data Relevant to Small Businesses

LocalBusiness — the most important for local businesses. Tells Google your name, address, opening hours, and service area. Strongly reinforces your Google Business Profile data. FAQPage — marks up FAQ sections on your site. Google can display these as expandable questions directly in search results, increasing your click-through rate. Product — for e-commerce sites, enables price and availability to show in results. Review / AggregateRating — displays star ratings in search results. Note: can only reference reviews you’ve collected yourself, not third-party platforms. Service — describes the services you offer, helping Google categorise your business accurately. BreadcrumbList — shows the page’s position in your site hierarchy in the URL breadcrumb within search results.

How to Implement It

Structured data can be added manually (writing JSON-LD), through a WordPress plugin such as Rank Math or Yoast SEO (both have built-in structured data generation), or automatically by platforms like Shopify. Once implemented, test it with Google’s Rich Results Test tool at search.google.com/test/rich-results to confirm it’s error-free. At Xpose, we include structured data implementation as part of our on-page SEO service for Norwich and UK clients.