schema-markup

$2b

Engine

Support

Notes

Google

Subset only

Only types in Google's search gallery generate rich results. Valid Schema.org markup not in Google's list won't produce enhanced snippets—even if technically correct.

Bing

Subset; different

Supports JSON-LD, Microdata, RDFa, Open Graph. Some types (e.g., Product, Offer) have format-specific support. Check Bing Webmaster docs.

Other engines

Varies

Yandex, DuckDuckGo, AI search tools (Perplexity, etc.) may use Schema.org for understanding even when they don't display rich results.

Practical implication: Implement Schema.org markup for your content type. If Google doesn't show rich results for that type, Bing or AI systems may still use it. Always verify against Google's developer docs for Google-specific rich result eligibility.

Rich Results: Google Support (2026)

High-impact types: Product, Review snippets, Article/News, Video, Recipe, LocalBusiness, Event, Breadcrumb, Sitelinks searchbox, JobPosting.

Limited or context-dependent: FAQ (government/health sites for many queries), Education Q&A, Course, SoftwareApplication, Speakable (news), DiscussionForumPosting.

Deprecated: HowTo (fully removed for all devices as of Sep 2023), COVID data panels, some AMP-only formats, data-vocabulary.org.

Implementation: JSON-LD preferred; include @context, @type, stable @id; ISO 8601 dates; match structured data to visible content. Validate with Rich Results Test. Rich results can increase CTR up to ~35% and improve AI citation.

Schema ↔ SERP Features ↔ Rich Results (Strongly Related)

Schema, SERP features, and rich results are strongly related. Schema is the necessary condition for most rich results. When targeting a SERP feature, implement the corresponding schema type. See serp-features for the full SERP feature list and optimization.

Rich Results vs Featured Snippets

• Rich results: Schema-powered enhancements to standard listings (stars, breadcrumbs, FAQ dropdowns, product info). Appear within organic positions; do not require top-10 rank.

• Featured snippets: Google-extracted answer boxes at position zero. No schema required; content structure matters. Schema (FAQPage, HowTo, Article) can support extraction.

Schema Type

SERP Feature / Rich Result

Notes

FAQPage

PAA, Featured Snippet

FAQ dropdown; Q&A-style snippet. Eligibility restricted for many sites (e.g. government/health)

BreadcrumbList

Breadcrumbs

Path display in result

AggregateRating, Review

Reviews / Stars

Star ratings

HowTo

Formerly rich results (deprecated Sep 2023)

No longer generates Google rich results; Bing/AI may still use

Article

In-Depth Articles, Snippet

Article rich result

VideoObject

Video

Video thumbnail; see video-optimization

Product, Offer

Shopping, Product

Product/shopping results

Recipe

Recipe

Recipe rich result

JobPosting

Google Jobs

Job listings

Event

Event

Event rich result

WebSite + SearchAction

Sitelinks searchbox

Site links for brand queries

Organization, Person

Knowledge Panel

Entity info; see entity-seo

Workflow: 1) Use serp-features to identify target SERP feature; 2) Look up schema type in this table; 3) Implement and validate with Rich Results Test.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

GEO = optimizing content so AI systems (Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini) choose, cite, and quote your content in generated answers. Structured data makes content machine-readable; AI engines extract and cite more accurately. Key schema types for GEO: Organization, Person/Author, WebSite, WebPage, FAQPage, HowTo, Article, Product, AggregateRating. See generative-engine-optimization for full GEO strategy.

Initial Assessment

Check for project context first: If .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md exists, read it for product type and content.

Identify:

• Page type: Article, Product, FAQ, Organization, JobPosting, Event, etc.

• Content: What entities to describe

• Goal: Rich snippets, AI Overview visibility, Knowledge Panel

Schema Type Classification

Core Types (General Use)

Type

Use case

Organization

Site-wide; company info, logo, sameAs; see placement below

WebSite

Site-wide; search action, site name; pair with Organization on homepage

Article

Blog posts, news, tool intros

BreadcrumbList

Breadcrumb navigation

FAQPage

FAQ sections; triggers PAA-style results

Person

Author info; pairs with Article

ImageObject

Image metadata for rich results

HowTo

Tutorials, step-by-step guides. Note: Google fully deprecated HowTo rich results for all devices (Sep 2023); Bing/AI may still consume HowTo schema

Exclusive Types (Specific Scenarios)

Type

Use case

JobPosting

Recruitment sites, AI Job Matching

Product

E-commerce product pages

Event

Event pages, ticketing (not general blogs)

SoftwareApplication

App pages, tool pages

LocalBusiness

Local business pages

Dataset

Data platforms, datasets

DiscussionForumPosting

Forums, community posts

Quiz

Education, flashcards

MathSolver

Math tools

CaseStudy

Case study pages

Recipe

Recipes, meal plans, cooking instructions

Rule: Use core types for most sites. Use exclusive types only when page content matches (e.g., don't use Event on a blog; don't use JobPosting on a product page).

Organization & WebSite Schema Placement

Where

Organization

WebSite

Notes

Homepage

Minimum

Minimum

Add both Organization and WebSite to homepage at least. Organization describes the entity that owns the site; WebSite enables sitelinks searchbox and site identity.

Root layout / global

Optimal

Optimal

Place in site-wide layout (e.g. layout.tsx, _document, global header/footer) so schema appears on every page. Google uses the first instance found; one instance per site is sufficient.

About page

No

No

About page uses AboutPage schema (page-specific: headline, description, author, about). Organization is entity-level, not page-level—do not confine it to About. See about-page-generator.

Implementation: JSON-LD in <head>; use @id (e.g. https://example.com/#organization) to link Organization ↔ WebSite ↔ WebPage for entity graph. See entity-seo for @id and Knowledge Panel.

Action: Website/Product Type → Schema Mapping

Use this table to recommend which exclusive schema types fit a site. Match the site's content and product type to the most relevant schema. When in doubt, start with core types (Organization, WebSite, Article); add exclusive types only when content clearly matches.

Website / Product type

Recommended exclusive schema

Why

AI meal planner, recipe site, food blog, cooking app

Recipe

Ingredients, instructions, cook time, servings—highly relevant for food/meal content. Google supports Recipe rich results.

Job board, recruitment site, careers page

JobPosting

Title, company, location, salary, employment type. Required for Google Jobs.

Event platform, ticketing, webinar, conference

Event

Date, location, price. Use only on actual event pages.

SaaS, app, Chrome extension, tool, software product page

SoftwareApplication

App name, category, rating, price, OS. Fits product/feature pages.

E-commerce product page

Product

Price, availability, brand, reviews. Use with Offer, AggregateRating.

Forum, community, Reddit-style, Q&A

DiscussionForumPosting

Post content, author, comments. For user-generated discussion.

Data platform, dataset repository, Scale AI / Surge AI

Dataset

Dataset name, creator, license, distribution format. For data catalog pages.

Education site, flashcards, Quizlet-style

Quiz

Question-answer pairs. For educational Q&A content.

Math solver, calculator, equation tool

MathSolver

Math problem input, solution output. For math tools.

Restaurant, local service, store locator

LocalBusiness

Address, hours, NAP. For local SEO.

Case study, customer story page

CaseStudy

Client, outcome, methodology. For B2B case studies.

FAQ page, product FAQ, support FAQ

FAQPage

Question + acceptedAnswer pairs. Triggers PAA-style results.

Tutorial, how-to guide, step-by-step

HowTo

Steps, tools, time. Note: Google fully deprecated HowTo rich results (Sep 2023); Bing/AI may still consume the schema. Consider FAQPage as alternative

News article, press release

NewsArticle

Use instead of Article for news.

Video page, podcast episode

VideoObject / PodcastEpisode

For video/audio content. See video-optimization for VideoObject, thumbnail, key moments.

Examples:

• AI meal planner (e.g., generates weekly meal plans with recipes) → Add Recipe schema to each recipe/meal page; Article or WebPage for landing pages

• AI writing tool → SoftwareApplication on product page; Article on blog

• Recruitment SaaS → JobPosting on job listing pages; SoftwareApplication on product page

• Recipe blog → Recipe on each recipe post; Article for non-recipe posts

Output: When recommending schema, state: (1) which exclusive types fit the site/product, (2) which page types get which schema, (3) core types to add site-wide (Organization, WebSite, BreadcrumbList).

Article / BlogPosting / NewsArticle: Type Selection & Implementation

Choose the most specific type that matches content:

Type

Use case

BlogPosting

Informal blog posts; individual authors; regularly updated

Article

Formal, evergreen content; tool intros; encyclopedic

NewsArticle

Time-sensitive news; recognized publishers

Required properties: headline (max 110 chars), image (min 1200px wide; absolute URL), datePublished (ISO 8601), author (Person or Organization), publisher (Organization with logo).

Recommended: dateModified, description, mainEntityOfPage (canonical URL).

Date display for CTR: Google recommends showing only one date on the page. If both datePublished and dateModified are visible, Google may pick the wrong date for SERP display—Search Engine Land saw ~22% CTR drop. Best practice: show dateModified if it exists, otherwise datePublished. Keep both in JSON-LD; the rule applies to visible date only.

JSON-LD example (BlogPosting):

{

  "@context": "https://schema.org",

  "@type": "BlogPosting",

  "headline": "The Ultimate SEO Checklist for 2025",

  "description": "A complete guide to optimizing blog posts for search and AI.",

  "image": "https://example.com/image.jpg",

  "datePublished": "2025-01-15T09:00:00Z",

  "dateModified": "2025-02-01T14:30:00Z",

  "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Doe", "url": "https://example.com/author/jane" },

  "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Example", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://example.com/logo.png" } }

}

Place in <head> via <script type="application/ld+json">. For article pages, use og:type: article with og:article:published_time, og:article:modified_time, og:article:author. See article-page-generator, open-graph.

BreadcrumbList

For breadcrumb navigation. Schema must match visible breadcrumbs exactly. See breadcrumb-generator for UI, placement, and semantic HTML.

Requirement

Guideline

Format

JSON-LD in <script type="application/ld+json">

URLs

Absolute URLs with https:// for each item

Position

Sequential integers starting from 1

Match

Schema must match visible breadcrumbs exactly

JSON-LD example:

{

  "@context": "https://schema.org",

  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",

  "itemListElement": [

    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://example.com/" },

    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Category", "item": "https://example.com/category/" },

    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Current Page", "item": "https://example.com/category/current-page/" }

  ]

}

Multiple paths: Google supports multiple BreadcrumbList objects on the same page when a page is reachable via multiple paths (e.g., product in multiple categories). Use an array of BreadcrumbList objects.

Best Practices

Principle

Guideline

Accuracy

Data must match visible page content; never add invisible or misleading data

Completeness

Include all required properties per type

Most specific type

Use NewsArticle over Article when applicable

JSON-LD

Preferred format; place in <script type="application/ld+json">

@id for entities

Use @id for Organization, Person to enable entity linking; see entity-seo

Phased implementation

Add required properties first; then optional for optimization

Validation

Test with Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator

inLanguage (multilingual)

Add "inLanguage": "en-US" (IETF BCP 47) to match hreflang; localize names, descriptions, FAQs for rich snippets per locale

Multilingual Schema (inLanguage)

For multilingual sites, add inLanguage to JSON-LD to reinforce language targeting. Align with hreflang values (e.g. "inLanguage": "zh-CN" with hreflang="zh-CN").

Localize schema data: Translate structured data fields (name, description, FAQ acceptedAnswer, etc.) for each locale to improve rich snippet CTR in that language.

Types that support inLanguage: Article, BlogPosting, WebApplication, FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Organization.

Implementation Workflow

• Analyze page type and content; choose matching Schema type

• Select format — JSON-LD recommended (Google, Bing, AI tools support it)

• Write structured data; start with required properties

• Validate with Rich Results Test, Schema Markup Validator

• Deploy and monitor via Search Console enhanced reports

Common Errors and Fixes

Error

Fix

Data doesn't match visible content

Schema must describe only what users see

Missing required properties

Check Google/Schema.org docs for each type

Wrong type for page

Don't use Event on non-event pages; don't use JobPosting on product pages

Format/syntax errors

Validate JSON-LD; check quotes, brackets, commas

Over-markup

Mark only relevant content; avoid stuffing unrelated types

Implementation

Next.js (metadata)

export const metadata = {

  other: {

    'script:ld+json': JSON.stringify({

      "@context": "https://schema.org",

      "@type": "Article",

      "headline": "...",

      "description": "...",

      "inLanguage": "en-US",

      "image": "https://example.com/image.jpg",

      "datePublished": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",

      "dateModified": "2024-01-15T00:00:00Z",

      "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "..." },

      "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "...", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "..." } }

    }),

  },

};

HTML (generic)

<script type="application/ld+json">

{

  "@context": "https://schema.org",

  "@type": "Article",

  "headline": "...",

  "description": "...",

  "inLanguage": "en-US",

  "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "..." },

  "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "...", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "..." } }

}

</script>

Validation Tools

Tool

Purpose

Google Rich Results Test

Check if Google can generate rich results

Schema Markup Validator

Validate against Schema.org spec

Search Console

Enhanced reports; monitor validity over time

Output Format

• Action first: Use the Website/Product Type → Schema Mapping table to recommend which exclusive schema fits the site (e.g., AI meal planner → Recipe; SaaS tool → SoftwareApplication)

• Schema type recommendation (core vs. exclusive)

• Page-level mapping: Which pages get which schema

• JSON-LD structure with required properties

• Validation steps

• References: Schema.org, Google Structured Data, Bing Markup

Related Skills

• article-page-generator: Article structure; Article/BlogPosting/NewsArticle schema; date display

• serp-features: Strongly related—schema maps to SERP features; see mapping table above

• faq-page-generator: FAQPage schema; FAQ content structure

• howto-section-generator: HowTo section component (steps, JSON-LD); HowTo vs FAQPage

• breadcrumb-generator: BreadcrumbList schema implementation

• featured-snippet: FAQPage, HowTo for snippets

• video-optimization: VideoObject, video sitemap, thumbnail, key moments

• entity-seo: Organization, Person for entity recognition; @id; Knowledge Panel

• homepage-generator: Organization + WebSite schema on homepage or root layout

• indexing: Google Indexing API for JobPosting, BroadcastEvent