Structured data
Structured data is machine-readable labelling added to a page that tells search engines exactly what things are: this is a product, this is its price, this is an article and here's its author. It's written in a standard vocabulary (schema.org) that all the major engines read.
Why it matters
Engines reward pages they can understand with richer placements: review stars, FAQs, event details, article bylines in results. And as AI systems assemble answers, unambiguous facts about your business are the difference between being represented accurately and being paraphrased wrongly.
How it works
A small block of code (usually JSON-LD) rides along with the page, mirroring its visible content in labelled form. The engine matches the labels against its vocabulary and can then treat your facts as facts, not prose it has to interpret.
What to do about it
Label the obvious first: organisation, articles with authors, FAQs, services. It's low-effort, invisible to visitors, and it compounds with every new page that inherits the templates.
