You know those Google results where you instantly see star ratings, prices, an address or opening hours right under the title? That's no coincidence. The sites that have them send Google a short message via 'structured data': "this is a restaurant with a 4.7 rating, address X, open from Y to Z."
Google reads that message and shows the info directly in the search results, which makes your link stand out more than your competitor's standard link.
Why does it matter?
Two big reasons:
- More clicks. A search result with stars and a price gets up to 30% more clicks than one without. That's pure free gain.
- AI answers. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's own AI answers pick up structured data especially easily as a source. Want AI to name you as the "best restaurant in Arnhem"? Then structured data helps enormously.
What should it contain?
For most businesses:
- Organization or LocalBusiness: business name, address, phone, opening hours
- sameAs links: to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google Business Profile. Google then connects everything to the same business
- FAQPage: frequently asked questions with answers, shown in Google as expandable boxes
- Product / Review: if you have an online store, with prices and ratings
Who can set this up for you?
If you have a WordPress site with an SEO plugin like Yoast or Rank Math, a basic version is usually already in place. For richer data (opening hours, FAQs, customer ratings visible in Google), you'll need some custom work from your web developer or SEO specialist. It usually takes a few hours and then brings in extra clicks for months.
How do you check if it works?
Google has a free testing tool: Rich Results Test. Paste your URL and you'll instantly see which schemas are active and whether they work correctly.