--- title: "Schema Markup Scotland - Structured Data Guide" description: "Learn how schema markup Scotland businesses use can earn rich results in Google Search." url: "https://t2-002-seoscotland-net-a5a8.pages.dev/schema-markup-scotland/" --- # Structured Data and Schema Markup for Scottish Websites ## What Structured Data Actually Does in Search **Structured data gives Google a machine-readable layer of context about your page's content, separate from what human visitors read.** Without it, Google infers meaning from your text. With it, you tell Google explicitly that a block of content is a product, a review, an event, or a local business address. That precision is what earns rich results: star ratings beneath a listing, opening hours in a knowledge panel, FAQ dropdowns in the search results page itself. For Scottish businesses competing in local and national search, those visual enhancements improve click-through rates meaningfully. A 2023 study by Milestone Research found that pages with rich results earned a 58% higher click-through rate than equivalent pages without them. That figure translates directly into more qualified traffic without increasing paid spend. ## The Formats Worth Knowing - JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa Google recommends JSON-LD, and for good reason. The markup sits in a `