Structured Data
Structured Data
Data organized according to specific rules so that computers can easily understand it.
In Simple Terms
Structured data refers to information that's organized neatly according to specific rules and categories, making it easy for computers to understand. For example, when this technique is used on a website, meaning tags like "this is an address" or "this is a phone number" get added to the page's information, so search engines can correctly understand the content. This technology also powers the mechanism where business hours and menus appear neatly organized directly in search results.
Behind the Name
The name combines "structured," meaning organized according to a set of rules, with "data," meaning information. That combination reflects exactly what this technology does: taking scattered pieces of information and giving them structure according to specific rules, so computers can accurately grasp their meaning.
Take a Closer Look!
Structured data refers to information that's organized neatly according to predetermined formats and rules for categorization.
For example, think of a database or spreadsheet, where data is correctly sorted and arranged by category.
When humans read free-form text, they can intuitively tell that "this is a name" and "this is a phone number." But to a computer, it's just a collection of characters and numbers.
By organizing information according to shared rules that define its meaning, computers can process the content accurately and smoothly.
The term "structured data" also applies to web pages, though the method differs from databases or spreadsheets: a database reorganizes the data itself into fixed fields, while a website has no single fixed method.
One approach adds meaning tags like "this is a store name," "this is a menu," or "this is business hours" in a separate block called JSON-LD, without touching the page's visible text. Microdata and RDFa instead embed those same meaning tags directly into the HTML tags of the visible text.
These tags let search engines mechanically identify a page's content without parsing the text from scratch, and can result in things like business hours or a menu appearing directly in the search results. JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa differ in syntax, but each is a format for adding these meaning tags.