Structured Data

Structured data is metadata that describes the content of a web page in a format search engines can understand mechanically. There are formats such as JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa, and JSON-LD is currently Google's recommended format. Based on the Schema.org vocabulary, it describes information such as the type of page (article, product, event, FAQ, and so on), the author, the publication date, and ratings.

Implementing structured data on a QR code landing page has two effects. The first is rich result display in search results. Product structured data shows the price and stock status, and recipes, breadcrumbs, and others also have corresponding display formats. Note that the expanded display of questions and answers from FAQ structured data was narrowed in August 2023 to authoritative government / health sites only, and was then discontinued in Google Search as of May 7, 2026 (specifications as of August 2026). The second is improved understanding of the page by search engines.

The information shared through QR codes also benefits from structured data. vCard is structured data for contacts, iCalendar is structured data for events, and GS1 Digital Link is structured data for products. It is precisely because the data stored in a QR code is structured that, after the scan, the device can launch the appropriate application and process the data correctly.