Schema.org JSON-LD in 10 minutes: the five types most sites need

Structured data is a small block of JSON in your page that states facts in a form machines do not have to guess at. Search engines use it for rich results. AI assistants benefit too: a name, a price or an opening time stated in JSON-LD is harder to misread than the same fact buried in a layout.

You do not need dozens of types. Most sites are covered by five.

Organization

Every site should say who is behind it. Put an Organization block on the homepage with your name, URL, logo and the profiles that belong to you in sameAs.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Example Co",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/example"]
}

Product or SoftwareApplication

If you sell something, describe it on its own page. Use Product for physical goods and SoftwareApplication for apps and SaaS. Include an offers block with price and currency so the price is a fact, not a guess.

Article

Blog posts and guides should carry an Article block with the headline, author, publish date and the date it was last changed. The dates matter: assistants prefer content that looks maintained.

FAQPage

If a page really has a list of questions with answers, mark it up as FAQPage. Only use it for questions that appear on the page, word for word. Marking up hidden or invented questions is against search engine guidelines.

LocalBusiness

Shops, practices and anything with an address should use LocalBusiness or one of its subtypes, like Restaurant or Dentist. Add the address, phone number, opening hours and geo coordinates.

Where to put it

Add the JSON inside a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag in the page head or body. It has to be in the HTML the server sends, not injected later by a script, so crawlers that do not run JavaScript still see it.

The ten minute version

Open the JSON-LD schema generator, pick the type, fill in the form and copy the snippet. Required fields are marked and the output is validated as you type, so a complete form always passes the audit.