Under the hood · Module 5 of 10

Schema and structured data

Schema is code that tells search engines exactly what a page is: this is a business, this is its phone number, this is a FAQ. It turns a page Google has to guess about into one it can read with certainty.

~4 min read 4 quiz questions 75% to pass
$

Why this matters for an insurance agent

For the agent, schema is what makes Google and AI name their agency with confidence instead of guessing. It feeds the map pack, rich results, and AI answers the exact facts, who they are, what they sell, where they serve, so a prospect sees the agent's name, phone, and services front and center at the moment they are ready to reach out.

What it is

JSON-LD in plain terms

Structured data is a small block of code (we use the JSON-LD format) tucked in the page's head. It labels the facts on the page in a vocabulary from schema.org that every search engine understands.

Without it, Google reads your text and infers "this looks like an insurance agency in Dallas". With it, you state it as fact: name, address, phone, hours, services, areas served. Less guessing means more trust and richer results.

+

Why it matters more every year

AI assistants and Google's own AI answers lean heavily on structured data to resolve who a business is and pull the right facts. Good schema is now a requirement for being cited by AI, not a nice-to-have.

The types we use

A connected graph, not scattered stubs

We do not drop one bare stub and call it done. We wire a connected @graph: several schema objects linked together by a shared @id so search engines see one coherent entity.

The hard rule

Never fabricate ratings or reviews

!

Zero tolerance

Never invent an aggregateRating, a star count, or reviews in schema. Use only the client's real review data. If they have none yet, leave it out and flag it as a pending win. Fake review schema is a policy violation that can get a site penalized and is a fast way to lose a client's trust.

Everything in the schema must be true and byte-consistent with what shows on the page and on the client's Google Business Profile and citations. Structured data is a promise to the search engine. We keep it honest.

* Key takeaways

  • Schema (JSON-LD) labels the facts on a page so search engines know them for certain instead of guessing.
  • AI answers and AI Overviews rely on structured data, so good schema is now required to be cited, not optional.
  • We ship a connected @graph wired by a shared @id: LocalBusiness/InsuranceAgency + WebPage + Service + FAQPage + BreadcrumbList.
  • The LocalBusiness block must be enriched (address, geo, hours, areaServed, services, sameAs), not a bare stub.
  • Never fabricate aggregateRating or reviews. Use only real data or leave it out and flag it.
Check yourself

Module 5 quiz

Score 75% or higher to complete this module and unlock the next one.

4 questions

Not completed
  1. What does structured data (schema) do for a page?

  2. Why does schema matter more every year?

  3. What is the right way to build our schema?

  4. The client has no reviews yet. What do we put in aggregateRating?