A cursory search on structured data may initially perplex marketers. There seem to be two widely accepted related meanings that are not entirely the same, even for those who work at marketing agencies and are immersed in these kinds of ideas.

Information arranged according to a certain format or layout is the most accurate and general definition of structured data. Data may be processed and analyzed more easily with this format's increased capacity for data manipulation and storage.

The other definition of structured data restricts its meaning to the ways in which search engine results pages (SERPs) and other marketing applications most frequently use it to optimize for specific outcomes.

Structured Data: What Is It?

Any data that is kept and arranged in accordance with a specific set of standardized guidelines is considered structured data. Technically speaking, data assembled into stored query language (SQL) databases would be a common example.

In this wide meaning, structured data usually consists of:

• Kept in a data center
• Predetermined prior to processing and examination
• Restricted to specific data kinds
• More common and generally more accessible than unstructured data (more on this in a moment).

A basic spreadsheet or content management system (CMS) that arranges data points into recognizable, less flexible, but practical buckets—like a potential customer's name, email address, title, and business name—are well-known examples of structured data.

Using the definition of structured data from modern marketing terminology once more, think about how Google and other search engines use it as markup metadata to enhance content like a client's product page.

In this case, the product page for your client does not have structured data markup on it. However, it does supply information that is concealed in the page's code to help Google and other partners give end users more information. This has the added advantage of helping to further optimize marketing and sales operations.

This will be made clearer in this context by using a different example.

Examples of Organized Data from Well-Known Companies

What does structured data look like in the real world? It can have a big impact on click-through rates and Google search rankings. Here are a few instances of companies and websites that have used structured data effectively:

1. TripAdvisor marks up hotel and restaurant listings with details like ratings, reviews, and prices using structured data. TripAdvisor's website traffic has increased and its visibility in search results has improved as a result of this.

2. Food Network enhances Google rich results by annotating recipes with details like ingredients, cooking time, and nutritional information. As a result, Food Network is now more visible and has higher click-through rates when it appears in rich results and featured snippets.

3. eBay adds information about products, including availability, prices, and descriptions, to product listings by using structured data. eBay has seen an increase in click-through rates and search engine ranks as a result, which has increased income and sales.

4. Four Seasons Hotel adds details about room kinds, facilities, and prices to their hotel listings using schema. Due to this, Four Seasons' website has seen an increase in traffic and a more prominent appearance in local Google search results.

5. CNN provides extensive results for news stories with details like headlines, authors, and publication dates by utilizing structured data. CNN's visibility and click-through rates have grown as a result of this, since it has featured snippets and rich results visible.

What Makes Structured Data Important?

A crucial component of any SEO strategy is the implementation of structured data. This is how click-through rates and Google search rankings are impacted by structured data:

1. Increased search visibility: Websites can give search engines more precise and thorough information about the content on their pages by employing structured data to mark up material. As a result of search engines being better able to comprehend and index the content, search visibility may increase.

2. Rich results and enhanced site indexing: By giving search engines more information, you effectively facilitate their comprehension of the content you publish. Rich results, or better search results with more information than just the title and description, can be made possible using structured data. 

Features like ratings, reviews, and photos can be found in rich results, which can improve click-through rates and enhance website traffic.

3. Featured snippets and improved ranking in Google search results: Rich snippets provide your listing access to more structured data kinds that are more helpful, such ratings, prices, and reviews. Featured snippets are succinct responses to search queries that show up at the top of search results. Structured data can help websites show up in these snippets. Being included in featured snippets can boost a website's exposure and trustworthiness while also increasing traffic.