What Structured Data Can and Cannot Do for a Small Site

Structured data is a machine-readable description of a page: the business name, the product price, the review that a customer wrote. Google says it can make a page eligible for a rich result. It does not guarantee that result. The case studies on Google's own introduction, including higher click rates reported for large publishers, are Google's examples, not a forecast for a small site [1].

What format should you use?

Google recommends JSON-LD. Microdata and RDFa are also fine [1]. Pick one and keep it valid. A second copy of the same facts in a different format does not make the page more eligible.

What should you refuse to mark up?

Content people cannot see, and pages that are empty. Google says not to mark up invisible content or empty pages, and that a smaller set of complete properties beats a long list of incomplete ones [1]. If the hours are not on the page, they do not belong in the script. If the review is not on the page, the stars do not belong in the script.

Do stars, prices, and hours always show?

No. Local business markup requires a name and an address, and Google still says rich results are not guaranteed [2]. Review stars may show, and they are not guaranteed either [3]. Product markup can make price and availability eligible to appear, including in images, and the experiences change over time [4]. Eligibility is the ceiling. Display is Google's choice.

Whose case studies are those big percentages?

Google's. The introduction cites reported results such as Rotten Tomatoes, Food Network, Rakuten, and Nestlé [1]. Those are large sites with a lot of pages already being crawled. Quoting the percentages in a sales deck as if a five-page business site will get the same lift is not what the page says. The page says structured data can enable rich results. It also says it is not a guarantee [1].

How do you know the markup is even valid?

The Rich Results Test. Google points people there, and it also says an older vocabulary at data-vocabulary.org is not eligible [1]. A green test is not a promise the result will show. It means the markup is the kind Google can read. Product variant markup has the same limit: fix critical errors in the test, then give Google days to recrawl [5].

What if the page is blocked?

Then the markup does not matter. Google's variant guide says the page has to be reachable, not blocked by robots.txt, a noindex tag, or a login [5]. A sitemap can tell Google the URL exists. A sitemap does not guarantee the URL will be crawled or indexed [6]. Markup on a page the crawler cannot fetch is a note in a locked room.

Can you mark up your own reviews to get stars?

Not for a local business or an organization rating itself. Google says self-serving reviews are not eligible for the star feature, including a widget of your own reviews [3]. The same rule sits on the local business page: review markup is for sites that collect reviews about other businesses [2]. A cafe marking up its own five-star average is the case those pages exclude.

What is a sensible amount for a small site?

The facts you already show: name, address, and hours if you are a local business [2]. Price and availability if you sell a product on that page [4]. One complete block is better than five half-empty ones [1]. Do not add a FAQ block, a star block, and a product block to a page that is a paragraph and a phone number.

• JSON-LD — the format Google recommends.
• Visible facts only — the markup has to match the page.
• Complete properties — fewer finished fields beat a long incomplete list.
• No self-stars — a business does not rate itself for the star feature.
• A test, then a wait — the Rich Results Test does not publish the result for you.

Where does this belong in the project?

After the page says the true thing in ordinary HTML. Website development can add the script. It cannot invent hours you have not published. A Google Business Profile is a separate listing. Markup on the site does not replace it. If you are deciding what to measure after launch, the launch checklist matters more than a rich-result screenshot from a brand that is not yours. Pricing for the build should say whether markup is in the first release or a later pass.

What should you do this month?

Open the homepage and the one page you most want understood. If a fact is not written where a person can read it, leave it out of the script [1]. Run the Rich Results Test on the page you did mark up. Then stop. A week of extra schema types will not force a richer listing [1].