Product Structured Data: Markup That Matches the Page

What structured data does

Structured data is a block of code, usually JSON-LD, that describes the page in a standard vocabulary from schema.org. For a product page, it says "this is a product called X, sold for this price in Australian dollars, currently in stock, with these reviews". Search engines use it to understand the page and to decide whether it is eligible for richer results, such as prices and ratings shown in search.

Markup does not guarantee those results. It makes a page eligible, and the search engine decides what to show.

Product snippets and merchant listings

Google's documentation describes two kinds of product experiences. Product snippets are for product pages where shoppers cannot buy the item directly, and they offer more options for review information, such as pros and cons on editorial reviews. Merchant listings are for pages where customers can buy from you, and they offer more options for detailed product information, such as apparel sizing, shipping and return policies^[1].

An online store's own product pages are merchant listing pages. Review sites and comparison articles are product snippet pages.

The properties that matter most

Markup and Merchant Center feeds work together

Google recommends using both structured data on product pages and a Google Merchant Center feed. Its documentation says providing both maximises eligibility, and notes that some features combine the two sources, for example using feed pricing when a page does not include a price^[1].

Merchant Center also powers free product listings, which Google says can appear at no cost on surfaces such as Search, Images, Lens, YouTube and Gemini, as well as the Shopping tab and the products module on a Business Profile^[2]. For many stores the feed is worth setting up for that reason alone.

Keep markup accurate

Structured data must describe what a visitor actually sees. Common problems:

• A price in the markup that differs from the price shown, often after a sale ends
• "In stock" in the markup for a sold-out product
• Ratings in the markup with no reviews visible on the page
• Prices excluding GST in the markup while the page shows GST-inclusive prices
• Markup copied across products so every page carries the same SKU or image

Review markup also has a legal side. The ACCC says it is against the law to create fake reviews, that incentivised reviews must be disclosed and that suppressing genuine negative reviews can mislead consumers^[3]. A star rating in search results built on curated or fake reviews carries the same risk as one on the page.

Prices in markup follow price display rules

The price you mark up should be the price a consumer pays. The ACCC expects businesses to display a total price that includes taxes and all unavoidable fees^[4]. If your store is registered for GST and sells to consumers, the marked-up price should be GST-inclusive, matching the page, the feed and any ads.

How platforms handle it

Most themes on Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce output some Product markup, but quality varies. Common gaps are missing GTINs, missing shipping and returns details, review markup from an app that conflicts with the theme's own markup, and variant prices that do not update. We check the rendered markup on real product pages rather than trusting the theme description. On a headless build, the markup is written into the front-end templates directly.

Testing and monitoring

• Test sample pages. Run several product types, including one on sale and one sold out, through Google's Rich Results Test.
• Check Search Console. The merchant listings and product snippets reports show errors and warnings across the site.
• Compare with the feed. Prices, availability and identifiers in markup and in Merchant Center should agree.
• Recheck after changes. Theme updates, new review apps and platform migrations often change markup without anyone noticing.

Structured data during a migration

A platform move is the easiest time to lose markup, because a new theme may output different properties or none at all. Include structured data in the migration test plan, and compare a sample of old and new product pages before launch. The migration guide covers the rest of the checklist.

A short example

A minimal product block for a GST-registered Australian store might describe the name, image, SKU, brand and an offer with a price such as 89.00, priceCurrency AUD and availability InStock. Shipping details and a return policy can be added for merchant listings when you can state them accurately for Australian delivery. Your developer or platform app generates the exact JSON-LD; what matters is that every value matches the page.