/seo-aeo-best-practices

Structured Data (JSON-LD)

Structured data helps search engines and AI understand your content. JSON-LD is the recommended format.

Why Structured Data Matters

• Rich snippets: Enhanced search result appearance
• Knowledge panels: Featured information boxes
• AI training: Better content understanding
• Voice search: Answer selection for voice queries

Common Schema Types

Article / Blog Post

import { Article, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const articleSchema: WithContext<Article> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  headline: post.title,
  description: post.excerpt,
  image: post.image?.url,
  datePublished: post.publishedAt,
  dateModified: post.updatedAt,
  author: {
    "@type": "Person",
    name: post.author.name,
    url: post.author.url
  },
  publisher: {
    "@type": "Organization",
    name: "Your Company",
    logo: {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      url: "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  }
}

FAQ Page

import { FAQPage, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const faqSchema: WithContext<FAQPage> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  mainEntity: faqs.map(faq => ({
    "@type": "Question",
    name: faq.question,
    acceptedAnswer: {
      "@type": "Answer",
      text: faq.answer  // Plain text, use pt::text() in GROQ
    }
  }))
}

Organization

import { Organization, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const orgSchema: WithContext<Organization> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  name: "Your Company",
  url: "https://example.com",
  logo: "https://example.com/logo.png",
  sameAs: [
    "https://twitter.com/company",
    "https://linkedin.com/company/company"
  ],
  contactPoint: {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    telephone: "+1-555-555-5555",
    contactType: "customer service"
  }
}

Product

import { Product, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const productSchema: WithContext<Product> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  name: product.name,
  description: product.description,
  image: product.images,
  offers: {
    "@type": "Offer",
    price: product.price,
    priceCurrency: "USD",
    availability: "https://schema.org/InStock"
  },
  aggregateRating: product.rating ? {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    ratingValue: product.rating.average,
    reviewCount: product.rating.count
  } : undefined
}

Breadcrumb

import { BreadcrumbList, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const breadcrumbSchema: WithContext<BreadcrumbList> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  itemListElement: breadcrumbs.map((crumb, index) => ({
    "@type": "ListItem",
    position: index + 1, // schema.org positions are 1-based
    name: crumb.title,
    item: `https://example.com${crumb.path}`
  }))
}

Combining Multiple Schemas (@graph)

Real-world pages often need multiple schema types. Use @graph to combine them. The @context is defined once at the top level — omit it from individual schema generators when used inside @graph:

const pageSchema = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    generateArticleSchema(post),      // No @context needed here
    generateBreadcrumbSchema(breadcrumbs),
    generateOrganizationSchema(),
  ]
}

Implementation in Next.js

// Component to render JSON-LD
// Ensure data comes from trusted sources (your CMS).
// If data could contain user-generated content, strip HTML tags
// and escape special characters before passing to JSON.stringify.
function JsonLd({ data }: { data: WithContext<Thing> }) {
  return (
    <script
      type="application/ld+json"
      dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: JSON.stringify(data) }}
    />
  )
}

// Usage in page
export default function PostPage({ post }) {
  return (
    <>
      <JsonLd data={generateArticleSchema(post)} />
      <article>...</article>
    </>
  )
}

GROQ for Plain Text

Structured data often needs plain text, not rich text:

*[_type == "faq"]{
  question,
  "answer": pt::text(answerRichText)  // Convert Portable Text to plain string
}

Testing Tools

• Google Rich Results Test
• Schema.org Validator