Structured Data in 2025
Structured Data in 2025: What Still Works, What's Changed, and Why It Matters More Than Ever
Google recently simplified its search results by retiring seven structured data types. But here's what the headlines miss: the structured data that still works is more valuable than ever.
While some schema types are gone, Product, FAQ, Article, LocalBusiness, and Review markup continue to power rich snippets across billions of searches. And with AI Overviews now appearing in 15% of searches—often pulling directly from structured data—getting this right has never been more important.
This guide breaks down what's actually happening with structured data in 2025, what you should focus on, and how to implement it without drowning in technical complexity.
What Google Changed in 2025
In June 2025, Google announced it would stop supporting seven structured data types to "streamline the results page." The retired types include Book Actions, Course Info, Claim Review, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement, and Vehicle Listing.
Google's reasoning was straightforward: these types weren't widely used and weren't adding significant value to users. The change doesn't affect how pages rank—only whether certain visual enhancements appear in search results.
For most websites, this changes nothing. The structured data types that drive the majority of rich results—Product schema, FAQ schema, Article schema, LocalBusiness, and Review snippets—remain fully supported.
Why Structured Data Matters More Now
The irony of Google's cleanup is that it makes the remaining structured data types more important, not less. Here's why:
Rich results still dramatically improve click-through rates. Studies consistently show that rich snippets can increase organic CTR by 20-35% compared to standard blue links. When your listing displays star ratings, prices, or FAQ accordions while competitors show plain text, you capture more attention.
AI Overviews use structured data as a source. Google's AI-powered summaries—which now appear in roughly 15% of searches—pull information from structured data to generate answers. Proper schema markup increases your chances of being cited in these prominent positions.
Voice search relies on structured data. With 35% of searches now voice-activated, LocalBusiness schema has become essential for "near me" queries. When someone asks their phone for a nearby dentist or restaurant, structured data determines which businesses appear.
E-E-A-T signals are reinforced by schema. Google's emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness extends to structured data. Author markup, Organization schema, and proper Review aggregation all strengthen these signals.
Rich snippets make your search results stand out with ratings, FAQs, and product details
The Schema Types That Actually Drive Results
Not all structured data is created equal. Here are the types that consistently generate visible rich results and deserve your attention:
Product Schema powers the star ratings, prices, and availability information you see in e-commerce search results. For online stores, this is non-negotiable. Product schema can display review counts, price ranges, and stock status directly in search results.
FAQ Schema displays expandable question-and-answer content directly in search results. This is particularly valuable for service pages, product pages with common questions, and content that addresses specific user queries. Google still supports FAQ rich results, though eligibility depends on clear formatting and trustworthy answers.
Article Schema helps Google understand your content structure, authorship, and publication details. For publishers and content-heavy sites, proper Article markup improves how your content appears in search and Google News.
LocalBusiness Schema puts your address, hours, phone number, and other details prominently in local search results. For any business with a physical location, this schema type is essential for local SEO.
Review/AggregateRating Schema displays those coveted star ratings in search results. Google supports these for Product, Book, Course, and LocalBusiness types—but only when reviews are first-party, transparent, and not auto-generated.
Organization Schema establishes your brand's identity in Google's Knowledge Graph. Proper Organization markup can influence your knowledge panel and how Google understands your company.
The Implementation Challenge
Here's the uncomfortable truth: structured data is powerful but complicated.
To implement schema markup properly, you need to understand JSON-LD syntax, map your content to schema.org vocabulary, validate against Google's specific requirements, inject the code into every relevant page, and update it when content changes.
For a single page, this is manageable. For a site with hundreds or thousands of pages—each with different content types—it becomes a significant technical project.
WordPress plugins like Yoast and RankMath help, but they're limited to WordPress. Shopify and Wix have their own partial solutions. Custom-built sites often have no solution at all.
This fragmentation is why many sites simply skip structured data, leaving significant search visibility on the table.
AI can automatically analyze page content and generate accurate schema markup
A Different Approach
What if you could add one line of code to your site and have AI analyze every page, generate appropriate schema markup, and inject it automatically?
That's the premise behind JsonLD.io. Instead of manually configuring schema for each page or relying on platform-specific plugins, a single script tag enables automatic structured data generation across your entire site—regardless of what platform you're using.
The AI analyzes your page content, determines the appropriate schema types, generates valid JSON-LD markup, and injects it dynamically. When you update a page, the schema updates too. No developer involvement required after initial setup.
This approach solves the core structured data challenges: it works on any platform (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, custom sites), scales automatically to sites of any size, keeps schema synchronized with content changes, and removes the technical barrier entirely.
Getting Started With Structured Data
Whether you implement structured data manually or use an automated solution, here's a practical starting point:
Audit your current state. Use Google's Rich Results Test to see what structured data you already have and whether it's generating eligible rich results. Many sites have partial implementations that need cleanup.
Prioritize by impact. Start with the schema types most relevant to your business. E-commerce sites should prioritize Product schema. Local businesses need LocalBusiness. Content publishers should focus on Article and FAQ.
Validate before deploying. Google's Rich Results Test shows exactly which rich results your markup can generate. The Schema Markup Validator checks general schema.org compliance. Use both.
Monitor performance. Google Search Console shows which rich results your site is earning and how they're performing. Track this over time to understand the impact.
Stay current. Google continues to adjust which schema types it supports and how. Following Search Console alerts and official Google Search Central announcements helps you stay ahead of changes.
The Bottom Line
Google's 2025 structured data changes removed some rarely-used schema types, but the core rich result features that drive clicks and visibility remain fully supported.
If anything, the cleanup clarifies where to focus: Product, FAQ, Article, LocalBusiness, and Review schema continue to power the rich snippets that differentiate search results and capture user attention.
The question isn't whether structured data matters—it clearly does. The question is how to implement it efficiently across your site without turning it into a major technical project.
The answer might be simpler than you think.
Ready to add structured data to your site without the complexity? Try JsonLD.io free for 14 days—no credit card required.