Beginner’s guide to Structured Data

There’s a variety of different ways to implement structured data. It can be hard-coded, generated dynamically using JavaScript, or injected with GTM. You can format it using JSON-LD, Microdata or RFDa,
although JSON-LD is the recommended format, and the one most commonly used because it doesn’t require any alterations to the HTML on a page.

However, Bing doesn’t support JSON-LD yet, so consider how important Bing’s support for your structured data might be for your site. Each type of structured data has a certain number of required and recommended attributes.

These attributes should be visible on the page in order to be valid in structured data, so first check that all of the attributes you wish to include are somewhere on the page. You can find a full specifications for each type of structured data here.

JSON-LD

JSON-LD structured data can sit in the or sections of your page (most commonly it’s included in the ) and doesn’t need to affect the HTML on the page. Simply in paste the following snippet.

<script type=”application/ld+json”>

{

  “@context”: “https://schema.org”,

  “@type”: “Organization”,

  “address”: {

    “@type”: “PostalAddress”,

    “addressLocality”: “Paris, France”,

    “postalCode”: “F-75002”,

    “streetAddress”: “38 avenue de l’Opera”

  },

  “email”: “secretariat(at)google.org”,

  “faxNumber”: “( 33 1) 42 68 53 01”,

  “member”: [

    {

      “@type”: “Organization”

    },

    {

      “@type”: “Organization”

    }

  ],

  “alumni”: [

    {

      “@type”: “Person”,

      “name”: “Jack Dan”

    },

    {

      “@type”: “Person”,

      “name”: “John Smith”

    }

  ],

  “name”: “Google.org (GOOG)”,

  “telephone”: “( 33 1) 42 68 53 00”

}

</script>

Microdata

Microdata uses in-line descriptions within meta tags to identify elements as structured data attributes. For this, we need to identify each of the attributes in our existing code to mark up. Here is an example of Microdata markup:

<div itemscope itemtype="”https://schema.org/Organization”">

  <span itemprop="”name”">Google.org (GOOG)</span>

 

Contact Details:

  <div itemprop="”address”" itemscope itemtype="”https://schema.org/PostalAddress”">

    Main address:

      <span itemprop="”streetAddress”">38 avenue de l’Opera</span>

      <span itemprop="”postalCode”">F-75002</span>

      <span itemprop="”addressLocality”">Paris, France</span>

    ,

  </div>

    Tel:<span itemprop="”telephone”">( 33 1) 42 68 53 00 </span>,

    Fax:<span itemprop="”faxNumber”">( 33 1) 42 68 53 01 </span>,

    E-mail: <span itemprop="”email”">secretariat(at)google.org</span>

 

Members:

– National Scientific Members in 100 countries and territories: Country1, Country2, …

– Scientific Union Members, 30 organizations listed in this Yearbook:

List of Alumni:

 <span itemprop="”alumni”" itemscope itemtype="”https://schema.org/Person”">

   <span itemprop="”name”">Jack Dan</span>

 </span>,

 <span itemprop="”alumni”" itemscope itemtype="”https://schema.org/Person”">

   <span itemprop="”name”">John Smith</span>

 </span>,

 

History:

</div>

RDFa

RDFa is really similar to Microdata. Again, this is done inline within the HTML, so you need to start by identifying each element you want to markup in your page’s code, and then add the structured data within its meta tags. RFDa has a slightly different syntax to Microdata – your markup should look something like this:

<div vocab="”https://schema.org/”" typeof="”Organization”">

  <span property="”name”">Google.org (GOOG)</span>

 

Contact Details:

  <div property="”address”" typeof="”PostalAddress”">

    Main address:

      <span property="”streetAddress”">38 avenue de l’Opera</span>

      <span property="”postalCode”">F-75002</span>

      <span property="”addressLocality”">Paris, France</span>

    ,

  </div>

    Tel:<span property="”telephone”">( 33 1) 42 68 53 00 </span>,

    Fax:<span property="”faxNumber”">( 33 1) 42 68 53 01 </span>,

    E-mail: <span property="”email”">secretariat(at)google.org</span>

 

Members:

– National Scientific Members in 100 countries and territories: Country1, Country2, …

– Scientific Union Members, 30 organizations listed in this Yearbook:

List of Alumni:

 <span property="”alumni”"  typeof="”Person”">

   <span property="”name”">Jack Dan</span>

 </span>,

 <span property="”alumni”"  typeof="”Person”">

   <span property="”name”">John Smith</span>

 </span>

History:

</div>