SEO8 min read

Schema markup that actually earns rich results

Schema markup is structured data that tells search engines what a page is about in a machine-readable form. It does not raise rankings. It makes pages eligible for rich results — star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs, prices in the SERP — and those raise click-through at the same position.

There are hundreds of schema.org types and Google uses a small fraction of them. Implementing the rest is not harmful, just pointless.

The types worth implementing

For a business site, in order of value:

  • Organization / LocalBusiness — once, site-wide. Name, logo, contact, address, opening hours. Feeds knowledge panels and local results.
  • BreadcrumbList — on every page with a hierarchy. Replaces the raw URL in the SERP with a readable trail. Cheap and near-universally shown.
  • FAQPage — where you have a genuine FAQ. Can expand your result vertically. Also the one most often implemented in a way that earns a manual action.
  • Service / Product with Offer — for what you sell. Enables price display.
  • Article — for content, with author and dates.
  • AggregateRating and Review — only where you have real, collectable reviews. Self-serving review markup on your own pages is against Google's guidelines.

Use JSON-LD

Three syntaxes exist — JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa. Use JSON-LD. Google recommends it, it lives in a single script block rather than being tangled into your HTML, and it can be generated from the same data that renders the page, which means the two cannot drift apart.

On a site with several entities, use `@graph` with `@id` references so nodes link to one another rather than repeating the organisation block on every page.

The rule people break

Structured data must describe content visible on the page.

FAQ markup for questions not on the page. Review markup for reviews you do not display. Prices in schema that differ from the prices shown. All three are guideline violations, and the penalty is not subtle — Google removes rich results for the site, and can issue a manual action against the domain.

This is the most common serious schema mistake because it looks like free extra visibility. It is the one thing on this page worth being genuinely careful about.

Generate schema from the same source that renders the visible content. If your FAQ block and your FAQPage schema both read from one array, they cannot disagree. Hand-maintaining two copies guarantees they eventually will.

Validating

Two tools, and they answer different questions. Google's Rich Results Test tells you whether the page is eligible for a specific rich result — that is the one that matters. The Schema.org validator checks whether your markup is technically valid schema, which is necessary but not sufficient.

Then watch Search Console's Enhancements reports. They show what Google actually recognised on the live site, which is occasionally not what you thought you shipped.

Common questions

Does schema markup improve rankings?

Not directly. It makes pages eligible for rich results, which increases click-through at the same position. The benefit is traffic, not ranking — though better click-through can indirectly help over time.

Which schema format should I use?

JSON-LD. Google recommends it, it sits in one script block rather than being woven through your HTML, and it can be generated from the same data the page renders, which prevents the two drifting apart.

Can schema markup get me penalised?

Yes. Markup describing content that is not visible on the page — FAQ questions that are not there, reviews you do not display, prices that differ from what is shown — violates Google's guidelines. The consequence ranges from losing rich results to a manual action against the site.

Do I need FAQ schema on every page?

No, and you should not add it to pages without a real FAQ. Google has also reduced how often FAQ rich results are shown, so its value is lower than it was. Use it where you have genuine questions and answers on the page.

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