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The PDP Field Guide

The Shift: From Content to Structure

Jonah Santo
July 15, 2025

⚡ TL;DR — The Shift: From Content to Structure

  • Platforms don’t rank your copy—they extract your fields
  • PDPs should be built like structured data surfaces, not landing pages
  • Long descriptions matter less than complete schema
  • If your fields are broken, your product won’t show up
  • Structure—not storytelling—drives visibility

Good PDPs aren't just well-written—they're well-structured.

For years, ecommerce teams have treated Product Detail Pages (PDPs) as a canvas for storytelling. The assumption was: write compelling copy, add beautiful imagery, and the rest will follow.

That era is over.

Today’s platforms don’t read PDPs—they extract them. Whether it's Google, Meta, TikTok Shop, or an AI feed, the same principle holds: machines don’t interpret design. They parse fields. And when those fields are incomplete, outdated, or inconsistent, your products quietly disappear from feeds and results.

Structured Fields vs Unstructured Content

Most PDPs still prioritize visual content over structural integrity. But structured PDP fields—not prose—are what power your listings across channels.

Example:
A product with a vivid long-form description but no valid price or availability tag will get excluded from platforms like Google Shopping or TikTok Shop.

This shift—from visual content to machine-readable structure—isn’t just a best practice. It’s a baseline requirement.

Why Platforms Skip Beautiful Pages

Here’s what major discovery platforms actually extract:

PlatformWhat They ParseWhy It MattersGoogleProduct, Offer, ReviewEnables Shopping Graph, SGE, and rich resultsTikTok Shopname, price, availability, reviewsFeeds accurate badges and product cardsMeta Commercetitle, image, price, GTINPowers product tagging and dynamic ads

If any of these fields are missing, incorrect, or misaligned with your Catalog Hygiene, your PDPs fail silently—no warnings, no alerts, just absence.

Why Long-Form Copy Can’t Save You

This isn’t to say that copy doesn’t matter. But long descriptions won’t fix a schema error or missing metadata field.

Take JSON‑LD, the format Google explicitly recommends for product markup. It enables structured data to live in the <head> of your page—making it instantly readable and indexable by machines.

If that block is missing or malformed, your product might look great—but it’s functionally invisible.

From Cosmetic Fixes to Structural Hygiene

Many ecommerce teams still default to visual tweaks—updating banner images, rewriting copy, or changing layout. But none of that solves the root issue if your structured product data is broken.

Instead, you should prioritize:

This shift from surface polish to structured integrity is what separates PDPs that get indexed from those that decay quietly in the background.

Learn More

This lesson is part of The PDP Field Guide, a tactical playbook for ecommerce leaders building modern, machine-readable product pages.

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Or dig deeper into key references:

✅ Key Takeaway:
If your PDPs aren't structured for machines, they aren't structured for discovery.
Make structure—not just content—your foundation.