Meta tags and structured data are often confused, but they serve fundamentally different purposes.
Meta tags are basic HTML elements that provide page-level metadata: the title, description, Open Graph properties, Twitter Card settings. They are simple key-value pairs. Every page should have them. They affect how your page appears in search snippets and social previews.
Structured data is a richer vocabulary (most commonly JSON-LD using Schema.org types) that describes entities, relationships, and attributes on your page. It tells Google not just that your page exists, but what type of thing it is — a recipe, a product, an event, an article, a local business.
The key difference: meta tags change how Google displays your snippet in basic results. Structured data can trigger enhanced search features — rich results.
Examples of what structured data unlocks: - Recipe pages: cooking time, ingredients, ratings displayed directly in search - Product pages: price, availability, review stars in the snippet - Events: date, location, tickets link - Articles: article date, author info, breadcrumbs - Local businesses: address, phone, opening hours in Knowledge Panel
Use both. Meta tags are table stakes — every page needs them. Structured data is an enhancement that makes sense when the page represents a specific, typed entity. A blog post needs good meta tags and an Article schema. A product page needs meta tags and Product schema.
Common mistake: thinking structured data replaces meta tags. It does not. Google uses both for different purposes.