Structured data is an organized format for providing information about a page. It helps search engines like Google understand the content of the page and collect information to improve the search results listings for your business. It is hardcoded directly into the HTML markup of the page.

Google uses this structured data and generates rich snippets. These snippets are small pieces of information that appear in search results. It is basically the additional information provided along with the main information. Just like searching for a particular coffee shop in the area, it will not only show its name, but it will also show details of its location, hours, prices, and ratings, etc.

Most structured data lookups use the schema.org vocabulary, but the documentation at developers.google.com is recommended for Google lookup behavior.

When creating these marks, you must include all the properties of an object to make it suitable for an appearance in Google search. You can test your structured data with the structured data testing tool during its progress, and the Search Console structured data report after implementation, to assess the suitability of your pages.

Google Structured Data Markup Assistant is one of the most beneficial free tools to help you get started with structured data. This markup tool not only improves Google’s understanding of your page, but this content can also be incorporated into knowledge graph panels to increase your business’ reach online.

Google’s official stance says that it does not currently use markup for ranking purposes. But a study by Searchmetrics.com showed that “domains that have a built-in schema actually rank very well by an average of 4 positions compared to domains that don’t.” Therefore, it can be said that sites with embedded Schema tags are better optimized than sites without Schema tags. If your site is ranked four positions higher than your competitor, this could mean a higher sales prospect and, in turn, higher revenue over the competitor.

Although schema is not currently a ranking factor, clearly there may be some impact of having structured markup data. It may be due to the actual Google algorithm or the general effect of a better optimized site. Although Schema does not directly imply further classification, it is good practice in general. It also conveys that you have to put some effort into adding schema markup to your page.

Having snippets in the result of your site means that you will occupy a better space in the SERPs than your competitors. This can greatly increase your click-through rate. An increase in traffic due to better CTR will have an impact on your SERP ranking. If you have rich snippets in search results, it can directly convert as users already have enough information to purchase your product/service even before they land on your website.

So structured data will help you communicate to search engines what your content is about and that’s beneficial to you, the visitor, and Google. The ability to use structured data effectively on the page has an indirect impact on the search engine ranking of the site. Therefore, it is recommended to embed structured markup data in the page.