Google’s John Mueller Clarifies SEO Role of Structured Data

Recently, Google’s John Mueller answered a question on Bluesky about whether structured data helps SEO. His reply cleared up a common misunderstanding among many website owners and marketers.

Schema.org Structured Data

When SEOs talk about structured data, they’re mostly referring to Schema.org structured data. There are other types, too, but Schema.org is the one that matters when it comes to how your content appears in Google Search.

❓ Does Google Use Structured Data to Improve Rankings?

The discussion started when someone said they were adding structured data to their website to improve SEO.

Mueller responded with this:

“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 user then asked:

“In your experience, how has it helped?”

That’s when Mueller gave a clear answer:

“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.”

📸 Screenshot: Mueller Says Structured Data Won’t Make Site Rank Better

Structured Data Won’t Cause Visible Change in Google Search

Mueller also added a follow-up post for more clarity:

“It’s fine to use it for other things in schema.org, that won’t cause problems, but you’re unlikely to see any visible change from it in Google Search.”

He pointed out that even though structured data is useful, you won’t necessarily see any direct SEO improvement from it.

“I know some people take ‘unlikely’ and ‘visible change’ to mean they should optimize for it regardless – knock yourself out; others move faster.”

📸 Screenshot: Mueller Comments on “Unlikely to See Visible Change

No Ranking Boost — This Isn’t New

Mueller’s latest answer matches what he said back in 2018 (in a now-deleted tweet):

“There’s no generic ranking boost for structured data usage. That’s the same as far as I remember. However, SD can make it easier to understand what the page is about… which can make it easier to show where it’s relevant (improves targeting, maybe ranking for the right terms).”

📸 Screenshot: Deleted Tweet from 2018

What Structured Data Actually Does

Structured data helps organize your content into types Google understands, like:

• Reviews
• Recipes
• Products
• Articles
• Events

Instead of reading the entire webpage, Google can scan this organized data quickly, helping it know what your content is about. This makes your page eligible for rich results, like star ratings, product prices, or image previews.

But again, it’s important to remember:

• It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get a rich result.
• It only makes your page eligible to be shown that way.
• How Google Uses Structured Data in Search Features

Out of 800+ Schema.org types, Google officially supports only around 30. It only uses what it documents and ignores everything else.

So if you add a type of Schema.org structured data that Google doesn’t support, it won’t help your site in search.

What About AI Search Rankings?

With the rise of AI-driven search, structured data still plays a helpful role. Even if it doesn’t improve traditional rankings, it helps AI features understand your content more clearly.

A recent Search Central Live event highlighted this point:

“Structured data is critical for modern search features. Check the documentation for supported types. It’s efficient, precise, and easy for machines to read.”

📌 In Short:

• Structured data doesn’t increase rankings directly.
• It helps Google understand what your page is about.
• It makes your page eligible for rich results in search.
• Only certain types of structured data are used by Google.

In the AI Search era, structured data helps power search features, not ranking boosts.

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