Google Confirms That Structured Data Won’t Make A Site Rank Better via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Google’s John Mueller answered a question on Bluesky about whether structured data helps with SEO, which may change how some people think about it.

Schema.org Structured Data

When SEOs talk about structured data they’re talking about Schema.org structured data. There are many kinds of structured data but for SEO purposes only Schema.org structured data matters.

Does Google Use Structured Data For Ranking Purposes?

The person starting the discussion first posted that they were adding structured data to see if it helps with SEO.

Mueller’s first post was a comment about the value of preparation:

“Yes, and also no. I love seeing folks stumble into the world of online marketing, search engines, and all that, but reading up on how things technically work will save you time & help you focus.”

The original poster responded with a question:

“In your experience, how has it helped?”

That’s when Mueller gave his answer:

“(All of the following isn’t new, hence the meme.) Structured data won’t make your site rank better. It’s used for displaying the search features listed in developers.google.com/search/docs/… . Use it if your pages map to & are appropriate for any of those features.”

Google Only Uses Structured Data For Rich Results

It might seem confusing that structured data doesn’t help a site rank better but it makes more sense to think about it as something that makes a site eligible for rich results. In the context of AI Search results, Google uses regularly indexed data from websites and because AI search results are a search feature, it may rely on the documented structured data for search related features (read more about that here: Google Confirms: Structured Data Still Essential In AI Search Era.)

The main points about structured data in the context of AI search is that according to what was shared at a recent Search Central Live (hat tip to Aleyda Solis):

“Structured data is critical for modern search features

Check the documentation for supported types

Structured data is efficient,
…for computers easy to read,
… and very precise”

In a nutshell, for the context of AI Search:
Structured data supports search features and AI Search is an AI feature. AI search also relies on the regular search index apart from the Schema.org structured data.

How Google Uses Structured Data In Search Features

Google uses only a fraction of the available Schema.org structured data. There are currently over 800 Schema.org structured data types and Google only uses around 30 types for which it publishes structured data documentation for required properties for each structured data type and other guidelines and requirements.

The only use Google has for structured data is to collect information in a machine readable format so that it can then use the information for displaying rich results, which can be seen for recipes, reviews, displaying website information in carousel format, and even to enable users to buy books directly from the search results.

Adding Schema.org structured data doesn’t guarantee that Google will display the site with a rich results feature in search. It only makes a site eligible to be displayed in rich results. Adding non-documented forms of Schema.org structured data won’t affect search optimization for a site because Google ignores all but the roughly thirty structured data types.

Read the original discussion on Bluesky:

Adding structured data to see if it helps with SEO

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