Structured data and SEO: What you need to know in 2025

2024-10-07 22:00:06

Many search engines rely on structured data to enhance user experiences – and this trend will likely intensify in 2025.

For this reason, structured data is no longer a “nice-to-have” but an essential part of any SEO strategy.

Here’s what you need to know about structured data, including why it matters, important trends, key schema types, advanced techniques and more.

What is structured data?

Structured data is a standardized format for organizing and labeling page content that helps search engines understand it more effectively.

Google uses structured data to create enhanced listings, rich results and various features in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Being included in these features can boost your website’s visibility and organic reach, especially in entity-based searches.

Vocabulary

The most commonly used vocabulary for structured data is Schema.org, an open-source framework that provides an extensive library of types and properties.

Schema.org includes hundreds of predefined types, such as Product, Event or Person and properties like name, price and description.

Format

The preferred format for implementing structured data is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data), which is endorsed by Google and other search engines.

JSON-LD encapsulates structured data within a <script> tag, keeping it separate from the core HTML.

This approach makes it more flexible, easier to implement and less intrusive. JSON-LD is particularly useful for dynamic content on larger websites.

Validation

Correct implementation of structured data is essential to be eligible for rich results.

To verify that structured data is properly implemented and can be processed by search engines, use tools like:

Google’s Rich Results Test.
Schema Markup Validator.

These tools check for errors or omissions in the schema, ensuring the markup is valid and effective.

Dig deeper: What is technical SEO?

Why structured data matters more than ever

Structured data enables search engines to interpret website content more deeply, enhancing how pages are indexed and presented in search results.

It allows brands to reach audiences in less competitive areas of search, such as voice and image search, allowing sites to drive traffic and engagement outside of traditional SEO.

Zero-click search and brand authority

More and more SERP features, like knowledge panels and featured snippets, depend on structured data to provide answers directly in search results. This means users can get information without clicking through the publisher’s site.

This rise of so-called zero-click searches, has made structured data even more indispensable in SEO.

While these features offer limited opportunity to drive visits, they can boost organic impressions, enhance brand recognition and maintain user interaction with the brand.

Being regularly shown in the rich results reinforce top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) – and in the E-E-A-T world, a trusted and authoritative brand is crucial for success in SEO.

Key schema types to use in 2025

While new schema types emerge regularly and should be tested where relevant, several “evergreen” types have proven their effectiveness over time.

Ecommerce

Product schema (often used together with Offer and Review schema) is essential for ecommerce, providing details about products, such as price, availability and reviews.

This schema powers rich snippets like product carousels and review stars in SERPs, significantly improving click-through rates.

Merchant listings (a combination of Product and Offer schema) can be a great way for new ecommerce sites to gain early visibility and traffic through Google Shopping.

AggregateOffer schema is ideal for marketplace websites, as it enables multiple vendors’ offers to be represented for the same product, allowing users to compare prices and options.

Informational

FAQ schema allows websites to present common questions and answers directly in the search results.

It is highly effective for improving user engagement by providing concise answers for conversational queries and can appear in rich results and voice search.

Q&A schema is designed for pages where users can submit questions and multiple answers are provided and is often found in forums or community-based platforms.

It powers a Q&A carousel that features both questions and answers directly in the SERP, increasing visibility and CTR for long-tail queries and conversational searches.

Article and WebPage schema can boost visibility in Google News, Discover and top stories carousels and get exposure in voice search.

Events

Event schema is used to mark up details about virtual or physical events, such as concerts, conferences, webinars or local meetups.

It provides specifics like the date, location, start and end times, ticket availability, and performers. This information can be included in Google’s event listings, enhancing visibility in local or event-related searches.

Newly supported properties for BroadcastEvent and ScreeningEvent enhance how live events and screenings are presented in search.

Dig deeper: How to deploy advanced schema at scale

How to use structured data in 2025

While the applications below are not entirely new, their importance is set to increase through 2025 as user behaviors continue to shift.

Entity-based search

Entity-based search is where search engines prioritize entities – people, places, things and concepts – over individual keywords.

Instead of focusing on isolated words and relationships between them, search engines now better understand connections between entities and how they fit into a broader context.

Structured data like Person, Organization or Place schema can clearly define relevant entities, enhancing their visibility in Knowledge Graphs and entity-based results.

Likewsie, SameAs schema can be used to help search engines understand that an entity mentioned on one page is the same as an entity mentioned elsewhere.

By marking up an entity with SameAs and linking it to trusted external sources, such as Wikidata, Wikipedia or authoritative social media profiles, it’s possible to reinforce the association and improve its recognition and reach in Knowledge Graphs and rich search results.

Dig deeper: How to use entities in schema to improve Google’s understanding of your content

Speakable

Speakable schema (in beta at Google) is an important tool for optimizing content for voice search results.

It helps search engines identify which sections of a webpage are best suited for audio playback, including Google Assistant-enabled devices using TTS.

The goal is to provide concise, clear answers to users’ questions in spoken format. This is especially useful for news websites and publishers, as they can mark up critical content to be featured in voice responses.

Multimodal search

Multimodal search allows users to query search engines using various forms of input, such as text, images and voice, sometimes combined in a single query.

This is largely driven by AI models designed to process multiple data types simultaneously.

Structured data like VideoObject and ImageObject ensure that multimedia content is properly understood, indexed and ranked.

Schema nesting

Schema nesting allows for the representation of more complex relationships within structured data.

By nesting one schema type within another – such as a Product schema within an Offer schema, further nested within a LocalBusiness schema – it’s possible to communicate layered information about product availability, pricing and location.

This enables search engines to understand not just individual data points but how they are connected, leading to more contextually rich search results, like specific local availability and offers tied to individual businesses.

Another example might be a Recipe schema nested within a HowTo schema, further nested within a Person schema.

This communicates that a specific person (author or chef) created the recipe, which in turn contains step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the dish.

Person schema would include the chef’s name, bio and social profiles.
HowTo schema would describe the cooking process, including the steps and required materials.
Recipe schema provides details like the list of ingredients, preparation time and nutritional information.

This setup would enable search engines to display rich snippets that include the recipe’s creator, ingredients and cooking instructions in a clear and organized manner.

While the primary benefits of schema nesting include improved contextual understanding and enhanced rich results, nesting also adds flexibility for meeting different search intents, allowing search engines to prioritize information based on the query.

Maximize your search visibility with structured data

Structured data is already a critical driver of SEO success for many websites, both large and small.

With hundreds of schema types, dozens of Google SERP features and increasing applications in AI and voice search, its importance will only continue to grow in 2025.

As Google and other search platforms continue to change, carefully and creatively leveraged structured data can provide a significant competitive edge, allowing to gain visibility in existing features and prepare for future opportunities.

Dig deeper: How schema markup establishes trust and boosts information gain