JSON-LD structured data

Structured data, often implemented using the JSON-LD format, is a way of providing search engines with additional information about the content on a web page. This allows search engines to better understand the context of the content and display it in more relevant ways in search results. For online stores, implementing structured data can be particularly beneficial.

By providing search engines with additional information about products, such as their price, availability, and reviews, structured data can help online stores appear in more targeted and relevant search results. This can lead to increased organic traffic and higher click-through rates, which can ultimately result in increased sales.

Structured data can also be used to enhance the appearance of search results by providing rich snippets, which can include product images, ratings, and other useful information. This can make online stores stand out in search results and provide users with a more comprehensive understanding of the products being sold:

Overall, implementing structured data using JSON-LD can be a powerful tool for online stores looking to improve their search engine optimization and increase their visibility in search results. By providing search engines with more detailed and relevant information about their products, online stores can improve their chances of being discovered by potential customers and increase their overall sales.

To enable the JSON-LD feature in Smart SEO, go to the JSON-LD page in our app and you will find all the available structured data schemas that can be enabled for your store:

You can enable a given schema by clicking the Turn on button near it. Most of the schemas immediately start to display the structured data on your store and search engines can index it:

But there are some, that require some configuration and you can see a Configure button near them.

For the Organization Schema and Local Business Schema, for example, you have to add your business details:

The Product Schema configuration allows you to configure:

If you are using a product reviews app, you can add its data to the product JSON-LD structured data. To do that, simply select the product review app that you use in your store from the list of supported product review apps:

We provide an option to exclude your product prices from being added to the JSON-LD structured data from the store, but note that Google will throw an error for missing price in the product structured data.

To hide the price, click the Hide price button:

To enable Return policy in your product structured data, click the Turn on button near the Enable Return Policy setting:

You may add one or more destinations if you have different return policies for different countries.

For each destination, you need to add:

To enable the Shipping details structured data for your products, click the Turn on button:

Then, you can add one or more Shipping destinations. Here is an example:

For each destination, you need to add:

With Smart SEO you have the option to add and customize your FAQ schema. You may even add more than one FAQ schemas, and then map them to one or more products in your store. To create a FAQ schema, click the Configure button near the FAQ Schema:

Then, click the Add new button:

You will be asked to provide a title for the FAQ schema, select which products it should be added to, and provide the questions and answers details:

With Smart SEO you have the option to add and customize your Recipe schema. To create a Recipe schema, click the Configure button near the Recipe Schema:

Then, click the Add new button:

On the next page, you will be asked to create the Recipe schema, where you will have the option to provide quite a lot of details about the recipe:

Again, you can map this schema to one or more products, but you can also add a description, preparation time, cooking time, ingredients, instructions, rating and even video. Don't forget to save the changes.

With Smart SEO you have the option to add and customize your How To schema.

You may even add more than one How To schemas, then map them to one or more products in your store. To create a How To schema, click the Configure button near the How To Schema:

Then, click the Add new button:

Just like with the FAQ and Recipe schemas, you have to select the products to which you want to assign the How To Schema:

You can add descriptions, tools needed, supply, steps (where for each step you can add description, image and URL), and the total amount of time needed.

You may run a free JSON-LD test in the Google Rich Results Test.

Should you encounter any errors/warnings while testing your JSON-LD, please contact us for more details on how to resolve them.

Microdata is an old legacy format of structured data that is no longer recommended and should be removed.

However, some Shopify themes still include Microdata in their code by default. Instead of JSON-LD script, it is implemented via the ïtemscope" and "itemprop" attributes into the HTML code.

As part of the Smart SEO structured data features, the app could detect those attributes and remove them, ensuring that your structured data is up to date with the latest Google Search requirements.

To remove your Microdata, go to the JSON-LD page and click on the Microdata tab:

First time you access the Microdata page, a scan will automatically start, to locate any Microdata code in your theme:

If no Microdata is detected, you should see this message:

No further actions are required. However, if there is indeed Microdata in your store, you will see a button that will let you remove it:

This will remove the Microdata code from your theme. Don't worry, though, you can later recover it if necessary (not recommended):

Question: I get two errors, "Missing field 'hasMerchantReturnPolicy'" and "Missing field 'ShippingDetails'" in the Google Search Console/JSON-LD test. How to fix those?

Answer: You can fix those errors by adding Shipping and Return policy details as specified in the Product Schema configuration section of this article.

Question: I get two errors, "Missing field 'reviews'" and "Missing field 'aggregateRating'" in the Google Search Console/JSON-LD test. How to fix those?

Answer: You can fix those errors by installing one of the product review apps we support in the Product Schema configuration, as specified in the Product Schema configuration section of this article.

Please note that after you select your product review apps, the product needs to have product reviews in order for this data to appear in the JSON-LD. That being said, please note that Google will not penalize you if some products might not yet have reviews, so the warnings are not critical. After all, if that was reducing your SEO performance, that would mean that every store would add fake reviews for the purpose of having this data in the JSON-LD structured data, and that's not what Google wants.

Question: What product review apps does your product schema support?

Answer: Currently, our app supports the following product review apps: