Structured Data: a beginner's guide
Extract JSON-LD and schema markup
Structured data: how to teach Google what your page is actually about
Structured data is a small block of machine-readable code that you add to a webpage to describe what the page is about in a format search engines can understand without having to guess. The code itself follows a standardized vocabulary called schema.org, which is a shared dictionary of types — `Article`, `Product`, `Recipe`, `Event`, `LocalBusiness`, `FAQPage`, `Person`, and so on — agreed on jointly by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex. When you add structured data to a page, you are basically handing Google a labeled diagram of the content instead of asking it to read the prose and figure things out for itself.
You should care because structured data is the single biggest free upgrade to your search visibility that almost no small site bothers to use. When Google understands a page through structured data, it can show your content as a rich result — the search-result formats that look fancier and earn more clicks than plain blue links. Star ratings on a product. The cooking time on a recipe card. The FAQ accordion under your article. The little event date and venue under your concert listing. Those are all powered by structured data on the underlying page, and they all dramatically increase click-through rates.
The five things every structured-data audit looks at:
Is structured data present at all? Most small sites have none. Adding any is a meaningful improvement.
Is the schema type appropriate for the page? A blog post should use `Article` or `BlogPosting`. A product page should use `Product`. An event should use `Event`. Mixing types confuses Google.
Are the required fields filled in? Each schema type has required and recommended fields documented in Google's structured data search gallery. Missing required fields disqualify the page from rich results.
Does the structured data match the visible content? Google explicitly forbids using structured data to claim things that don't appear on the page (e.g., putting fake star ratings in schema).
Does the structured data validate? A malformed schema block produces no rich results at all. The official validator is Google's Rich Results Test.
Three questions a structured-data audit answers:
Are my pages eligible for any rich-result formats I'm currently missing out on?
Did the last theme update or migration accidentally break my schema markup?
Are there any fake or mismatched fields that could trigger a manual penalty from Google?
The cost of skipping structured data is invisible: you stay in the world of plain blue search results while competitors with the same content earn rich results that look more authoritative and earn more clicks. The cost of adding it is one engineering ticket per content type, after which the benefit compounds for every page you publish. This is one of the highest-leverage SEO investments any small site can make.
The Structured Data endpoint, in plain language
In one sentence: Extract JSON-LD (JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for Linked Data) and schema markup
Extracts and validates structured data markup (JSON-LD (JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for Linked Data), Microdata) from web pages. Identifies schema.org types used and validates against specifications.
Don't worry if some of the words above are still unfamiliar — there's a plain-language glossary at the bottom of this page, and most of the terms link to their own beginner guides if you want to learn more.
What is actually happening when you call it
Here's what's actually happening behind the scenes when you call this endpoint:
Parses HTML (HyperText Markup Language) for JSON-LD (JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for Linked Data) 1.1 script blocks and Microdata markup. Identifies schema.org types (Organization, Product, Article, etc.), validates required properties, and checks for common errors.
If you're using an AI assistant through MCP, you don't need to understand any of the technical details — the assistant calls the tool and translates the result for you.
Why this specific tool matters
Let's skip the marketing fluff and answer the only question that actually matters: why should you, a real human with a real to-do list, care about the Structured Data tool? Here's the plain-English version, written the way you'd hear it from a friend who happens to do this for a living.
Structured data enables rich search results (stars, prices, FAQs in search). Proper implementation improves click-through rates and search visibility.
Picture this in real life. Imagine an SEO specialist. Here's the situation they're walking into: Audit structured data to maximize rich result eligibility in search. Without the right tool, that person would be stuck copy-pasting between five browser tabs, reading documentation written for engineers, and crossing their fingers that the answer they cobble together is correct. With the Structured Data tool, the same person gets a clear answer in seconds — no spreadsheets, no guessing, no waiting for someone on the infrastructure team to free up.
Three questions this tool answers in plain English. If any of these have ever crossed your mind, the Structured Data tool is built for you:
Are search engines actually able to crawl, understand, and recommend my pages?
What is the single biggest fix I could make today to climb in Google?
How does my site compare against the technical SEO checklist that the top results all pass?
You can either click the tool and get the answer yourself, or ask your AI assistant — connected through MCP (Model Context Protocol) — to ask the question for you and translate the answer into something you can paste into Slack.
Who gets the most out of this. Marketers, content writers, freelancers running client sites, founders trying to grow without paying for ads, and SEO specialists running monthly health checks. If you see yourself in that list, this is one of the EdgeDNS tools you should bookmark today.
What happens if you skip this entirely. Skip it and search engines quietly stop sending you traffic and you don't find out until the next quarterly review. That's why running this check — even once a month — is one of the cheapest forms of insurance you can give your domain.
Available on the developer plan. The technical details: `GET /v1/domain/structured-data`.
When would I actually use this?
If you're still on the fence about whether the Structured Data tool belongs in your toolbox, this section is for you. Below you'll meet three real people — an SEO specialist, a content strategist, and a developer — facing three real situations where this tool turns a stressful afternoon into a five-minute task. Read whichever story sounds closest to your week.
Story 1: Rich Results Optimization
Imagine you're an SEO specialist. Audit structured data to maximize rich result eligibility in search.
Why it matters: Improve search result appearance and click-through rates.
Story 2: Competitive Analysis
Imagine you're a content strategist. Analyze competitor structured data to understand their rich result strategy.
Why it matters: Identify schema types to implement for competitive advantage.
Story 3: Implementation Validation
Imagine you're a developer. Verify JSON-LD (JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for Linked Data) implementation before deploying to production.
Why it matters: Catch structured data errors before they affect search visibility.
Common situations across teams. Beyond the three stories above, here are the everyday workplace moments when people across the company reach for the Structured Data tool — or one of the tools right next to it in this category. If any of these are on your calendar this month, that's your sign:
Before launching a new page, site, or campaign — to catch the dumb mistakes.
During a quarterly SEO health check.
When organic traffic suddenly drops and you need to find out why.
When pitching a new client and you need an audit deck in under an hour.
If you can see yourself in even one of those bullets, the Structured Data tool will pay for itself the first time you use it.
Still not sure? Here's the easiest test in the world. Open Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other AI assistant connected to the EdgeDNS MCP server and ask, in your own words: "Is the Structured Data tool useful for my job?" The assistant will look at the tool, ask you a couple of follow-up questions about what you're trying to accomplish, and give you a straight answer in plain English. No commitment, no signup forms, no jargon.
The easiest way: just ask your AI assistant
If you've connected the EdgeDNS MCP server to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, or any other AI assistant, you don't need to write any code. Just ask in plain English:
"Use the Structured Data tool to check example.com and explain anything that looks wrong in plain language."
The AI will figure out which tool to call, fill in the right parameters, run it, and then explain the result back to you. No copy-pasting between tabs. No reading raw JSON. No memorizing endpoint names.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) access is free on every plan, including the free tier. One API key works for both REST and AI — you do not have to choose.
The technical way: call it from code
If you're a developer and want to call the endpoint from a script or your own application, here's the simplest possible example. Replace the placeholder API key with the real one from your dashboard.
# Replace edns_live_YOUR_KEY with your real API key from the dashboard
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer edns_live_YOUR_KEY" \
"https://api.edgedns.dev/v1/domain/structured-data?domain=example.com"What you need to provide
There's just one piece of information you need to provide. The table below explains exactly what it is and what a real value looks like.
| Field | Type | Required? | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
domain | string | Yes | The domain to extract structured data from | example.com |
What you get back
When you call this tool, you'll get back a JSON object with the fields below. If you're talking to it through an AI assistant, the assistant reads these for you and explains them in plain language — you don't need to memorize them.
| Field | Type | What you'll see in it |
|---|---|---|
domain | string | The queried domain |
hasStructuredData | boolean | Whether any structured data was found |
jsonLd | array | Parsed JSON-LD (JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for Linked Data) objects with validation results |
schemaTypes | array | Schema.org types found |
microdata | array | Microdata items found |
summary | object | Summary of structured data analysis |
errors | array | Validation issues detected |
score | number | Quality score (0-100) |
grade | string | Letter grade (A+ to F) based on score |
recommendations | array | Improvement suggestions |
Words you might be wondering about
If any words on this page felt like jargon, here's a plain-language version. Click any linked term to read a full beginner-friendly guide.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) — The basic language web pages are written in. The tags you see in the source code (<h1>, <p>, <a>) are HTML.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) — A lightweight format for sending data between programs. Looks like { "name": "example", "age": 5 }. Used by basically every modern web API.
JSON-LD (JSON for Linked Data) — A specific flavor of JSON used to embed structured information in web pages, so search engines like Google can understand the content. Example: marking up a recipe with ingredients, cook time, and ratings.
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