Structured data
Structured data is a standardized way to describe the content of your web pages in a format that search engines can understand. It uses schema.org markup to give Google precise information about products, prices, reviews and more.
What is structured data?
Structured data is code you add to your web pages that describes the content in a machine-readable format. It uses a standardized vocabulary from schema.org to tell search engines exactly what your content is about - not just the text, but the meaning behind it.
Where a human can see a page and understand that "599 kr." is a price and "4.7 out of 5" is a rating, Google needs structured data to understand the same.
Formats for structured data
There are three formats, but JSON-LD is the recommended one:
- JSON-LD (recommended): JavaScript-based format that is inserted as a
<script> tag. It is separate from HTML code, easy to maintain and Google's preferred format. - Microdata: Attributes are added directly to HTML elements. Older format, harder to maintain.
- RDFa: Similar to microdata, but with a different attribute name set. Rarely used in e-commerce.
Relevant schema types for webshops
Product
Describes a product with name, image, description, SKU, GTIN/MPN, brand and offer information. It is the most important schema type for any online store.
Offer
Linked to Product and describes price, currency, availability (InStock/OutOfStock), validity period and seller.
AggregateRating
Aggregate rating based on customer reviews. Includes average rating, best rating and number of reviews.
Review
Individual customer reviews with rating, author and text.
BreadcrumbList
Describes the breadcrumb navigation (e.g. Home → Clothing → Men's jackets → Product).
Organization
Information about your company: name, logo, contact details, social media profiles.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions with answers. Can be displayed as an expanded section directly in the search results.
Structured data in Shoporama
Shoporama automatically generates JSON-LD structured data for product pages with:
- Product: Name, description, URL, images (all variants), SKU, GTIN, MPN, brand, supplier
- Offer: Price, currency, availability, condition (NewCondition), price validity period (+1 month)
- AggregateRating: Average rating and number of reviews from customer reviews
- Review: Individual customer reviews with rating, author and text
All this is automatically generated without you having to add code. Google crawls your pages and finds the structured data that can result in rich snippets in search results.
Benefits of structured data
- Rich snippets: Stars, prices and availability are displayed directly in Google search results, increasing your click-through rate.
- Google Shopping: Structured data complements your product feed and can improve display in Shopping results.
- Voice search: Search assistants like Google Assistant use structured data to answer voice-based searches.
- Better understanding: Helps Google understand your content correctly, which can improve your organic positions.
Test and validate
- Google Rich Results Test: Test if Google can read your structured data and display rich results.
- Schema Markup Validator: Check that your JSON-LD is syntactically correct.
- Google Search Console: See what rich results Google has found and if there are any errors to fix.
We know online marketing in Shoporama
We've been working with online marketing ourselves for decades. As the only shop system in the country, we have spoken multiple times at conferences such as Marketingcamp, SEOday, Shopcamp, Digital Marketing, E-commerce Manager, Ecommerce Day, Web Analytics Wednesday and many more.