What structured data actually does
Structured data is a block of machine-readable JSON, written in the schema.org vocabulary, that spells out what a page contains: these are questions and answers, this is an article by this author, this is a business at this address. Search engines can usually work that out from the visible page, but markup removes the guesswork, and it makes the page eligible for rich results such as breadcrumb trails in the listing or extra article details. Eligible is the honest word. Google decides whether to show anything, and structured data does not boost rankings by itself. It helps crawlers understand your page; it is not a lever you pull for position.
The generator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored anywhere.
The four types and when to use each
FAQ suits a page with genuine questions and answers on it. Note that since 2023 Google only shows FAQ rich results for a small set of authoritative government and health sites, so treat this one as clarity for crawlers rather than a visual win. Article suits blog posts and news pieces, and carries the headline, author and dates that help search engines attribute and date your writing. Local business suits any organisation with a physical presence, from a cafe to a showroom, and pairs naturally with a Google Business Profile. Breadcrumb mirrors your navigation trail and is the one most likely to change how your listing looks, because Google often replaces the raw URL in results with the breadcrumb path.
Why the output is built the safe way
Every value you type is placed into a JavaScript object and serialised with JSON.stringify, never glued into a JSON string by hand. That matters more than it sounds: quotes, backslashes and line breaks inside your answers are escaped correctly every time, so a question like What does "en primeur" mean? cannot break the block. Hand-assembled JSON-LD is one of the most common sources of invalid markup on the web, usually from an unescaped quote in a business name or an answer. The output also escapes any closing script sequence inside your text, so the snippet cannot end the script tag early when pasted into a page.
Testing and common mistakes
Before shipping, paste the snippet into Google's Rich Results Test or the schema.org validator. Both are free, and thirty seconds of checking catches the typo that would otherwise silently disqualify the page. The mistake Google cares most about is markup that does not match the visible page: FAQ answers that appear only in the code, review stars for reviews nobody can read, a business address the site never shows. That mismatch breaks Google's guidelines and can cost you rich results across the whole site, so describe what is on the page and nothing more. Beyond that, keep dates in ISO format (the date pickers here do this for you), use full absolute URLs in breadcrumbs, and update dateModified when an article genuinely changes rather than on every deploy. One block per thing is fine: a page can happily carry breadcrumbs and an article in two separate script tags.
Frequently asked questions
What is JSON-LD?
JSON-LD is Google's preferred format for structured data: a small script block of JSON, placed anywhere in the page, that describes the content using the schema.org vocabulary. Unlike older formats such as microdata it does not touch your visible HTML at all, which is why it is by far the easiest format to add and maintain.
Will schema markup improve my rankings?
Not by itself, and Google says as much. Structured data helps search engines understand what a page contains and makes it eligible for rich results such as breadcrumb trails or article details. Eligibility is the key word: Google decides whether to show anything extra, and markup alone does not move you up the results.
Where do I paste the generated code?
Anywhere in the page's HTML, though the head element is the usual home. Paste the whole snippet including the script tags. You can have several JSON-LD blocks on one page, for example breadcrumbs plus an article, each in its own script tag.
Why does my FAQ markup not produce dropdowns in Google?
Since 2023 Google has restricted FAQ rich results to a small set of authoritative government and health sites, so most sites no longer get the expanding answers in search results. The markup is still valid and can still help search engines understand the page, but do not expect the visual treatment.
Is my content uploaded anywhere?
No. The JSON-LD is built entirely in your browser with JavaScript, so questions, addresses and everything else you type never leave your device.