By A10 Digital. Published .
Schema markup is code added to a web page that labels what the content means, using a shared vocabulary from schema.org. It tells a search engine that a string of numbers is a phone number, that a name is a business, and that a paragraph is the answer to a question.
How does schema markup work?
A person can tell at a glance that “9 to 5, Monday to Friday” is a set of opening hours. A machine cannot be sure. Schema markup removes the guesswork by stating it outright in a format machines read. Google recommends a format called JSON-LD, which sits in the page’s code and does not change what visitors see. Its introduction to structured data explains the detail.
Which types of schema markup does a business use?
- LocalBusiness or Organization. Name, address, phone number, opening hours and area served.
- Service or Product. What you sell, and for products the price and availability.
- FAQPage. Questions and their answers. Google now shows FAQ results for few sites, so this one describes the page more than it changes how the page appears.
- Article. Who wrote a piece and when it was published.
- BreadcrumbList. Where a page sits within the site.
Does schema markup improve rankings?
Not by itself. Google says structured data helps it understand a page and can make the page eligible for richer search results, such as star ratings or prices. It does not promise that those will be shown.
Does schema markup help with AI search?
Google says you do not need special markup to appear in its AI features. Schema markup helps search engines understand a page, and accurate information is useful whichever way it is found. Our guide to GEO, SEO and AEO covers the rest of that groundwork.
How can you check a page’s schema markup?
Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator at schema.org both read a page and report what they find, including any errors.
Related service: GEO and AEO services from A10 Digital.