Structured data is standardized information added to a web page so search engines and AI systems can understand what the content represents — not just read the words on the screen.
Most websites use the vocabulary from Schema.org and encode it as JSON-LD. It can identify a page as an article, product, local business, event, recipe, FAQ, or another specific type of content. Visitors usually don’t see this code, but machines use it to connect details such as a product’s price, an organization’s name, or an article’s author.
A real-life example of structured data
Imagine handing someone a box labeled only “stuff.” They have to open it and guess what everything is. Structured data adds clear labels: “product,” “price,” “availability,” and “review score.” The contents haven’t changed, but they’re much easier to interpret.
Clear markup can make pages eligible for rich search results and helps AEO and GEO systems interpret your content with less ambiguity. Breadcrumb trails are a common type people mark up so they can appear under the result title. It doesn’t guarantee rankings or AI citations; it gives machines cleaner facts to work with. See how it fits into AI search in AEO and GEO: The New SEO.