Short answer: Structured data labels the information on a page (company name, address, article author, product price, frequently asked questions) using the Schema.org vocabulary so that search engines and AI systems can understand it with certainty. For most corporate websites, the core set is Organization / LocalBusiness, WebSite, BreadcrumbList, Article and, where needed, Product, Service and FAQPage. The format Google recommends is JSON-LD.
Why does structured data matter for AEO?
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) aims to get your content selected as the direct answer to a question. If a search engine or an AI is going to take an answer from your page, it first wants to be sure what the page is: Is it an article or a service page? Who is the author? Which company does it belong to? Structured data answers these questions without leaving anything to guesswork.
Which schema for which page?
| Page | Recommended schema | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Organization or LocalBusiness, WebSite | Brand identity, logo, contact details, social accounts |
| Service page | Service, BreadcrumbList | The service's name, provider and scope |
| Blog / knowledge article | Article or BlogPosting, BreadcrumbList | Author, publication and update dates |
| Product page | Product, Offer | Price, stock availability, reviews |
| Branch / contact | LocalBusiness | Address, opening hours, location |
| FAQ section | FAQPage | Question-and-answer pairs |
Do FAQPage and HowTo still work?
Up-to-date information matters here. Google made two changes in 2023:
- FAQ rich results are now shown only for well-known government and health websites.
- HowTo rich results were removed from search results entirely.
This means that for most businesses, adding FAQPage markup will not produce an expandable question-and-answer display in search results. Even so, question-and-answer content remains valuable for AI assistants and other search engines. What matters is that the schema matches the questions and answers actually visible on the page exactly.
How do you add JSON-LD?
JSON-LD is a script block added to the page's HTML, and it does not affect the visible design. A simple local business example:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "LocalBusiness",
"name": "Example Tech Service",
"url": "https://www.exampleservice.com",
"telephone": "+90 212 000 00 00",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"addressLocality": "Istanbul",
"addressCountry": "TR"
},
"sameAs": ["https://www.instagram.com/exampleservice"]
}
</script>On sites that use a content management system, this block should not be written by hand; it should be generated automatically from the page's data. That way, when your address or phone number changes, the schema updates itself.
What are the most common mistakes?
- Marking up information that is not on the page: Every piece of information in the schema should match content the user can see on the page. Otherwise, it may result in a manual action from Google.
- Inconsistent information: The phone number in the schema differing from the number in the page footer.
- Copying the same schema onto every page: For example, repeating the same FAQPage block on every page.
- Self-serving review ratings: Review ratings that a business displays for itself on its own website do not get star rich results.
- Going live without testing.
How do you test that it works correctly?
- Google Rich Results Test: Shows whether the page is eligible for the rich results Google supports.
- Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org): Performs general Schema.org validation that is not specific to Google.
- Search Console > Enhancements: Reports schema errors and warnings on your live pages.
Is your site's structured data missing or broken? We audit your existing markup and set it up so that the right schemas for each page type are generated automatically.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Google states that it does not use structured data as a ranking factor on its own. Its benefits are that the page is understood correctly, becomes eligible for rich results and can achieve a higher click-through rate.
Google supports all three formats but recommends JSON-LD. Because it is independent of the HTML, it is easier to maintain and is not affected by design changes.
You don't have to remove it. As long as the schema matches the visible questions and answers on the page, it causes no problems and helps other search engines and AI systems understand your content.