What Is Schema Markup?
Structured data explained, which types matter, and the mistakes that cause problems.
What is schema markup?
Schema markup is structured data added to a page in a standard vocabulary so machines can understand what the page describes — an organisation, a service, a product, an article, a set of questions. It is usually added as JSON-LD and can enable richer search results, though it does not itself improve rankings.
Schema is often oversold as a ranking tactic and undersold as a clarity tool. Its real value is removing ambiguity about what a page is, which matters more as machines assemble answers.
Does schema markup improve rankings?
Not directly. It helps search engines understand a page and can qualify it for richer result formats — review stars, FAQ expansions, product price and availability — which can improve click-through. The ranking benefit, where any exists, is indirect.
Treat it as a clarity and presentation investment rather than a ranking lever, and expectations will match outcomes.
Which schema types are worth implementing?
Organization on the site as a whole, BreadcrumbList for navigation context, Article for editorial content with authorship and dates, Product for e-commerce, LocalBusiness for genuine physical locations, and FAQPage where real questions and answers appear on the page.
Implement fewer types accurately rather than many types loosely. Incorrect markup causes more problems than absent markup.
What are the common mistakes?
Describing things not visible on the page. FAQ markup on pages with no real FAQ section. LocalBusiness markup for cities where the business has no physical location. Review markup for reviews that do not exist. All of these risk manual action.
The governing rule is simple: schema must accurately describe what a visitor can see on the page. Anything else is misrepresentation.
Should every page have FAQ markup?
No. Use it where genuine questions and answers are part of the page's purpose. Adding FAQ sections to every page in order to emit markup produces padding that helps neither readers nor search engines, and search platforms have reduced how often they display it anyway.
A page with three real questions its visitors actually ask is worth marking up. A page with three invented questions is worth rewriting.
How do I check schema is correct?
Use the schema validator and the rich results test to check syntax and eligibility, then verify in Search Console's enhancement reports that it is being read on live pages. Validating the code without checking live pages misses deployment problems.
Re-check after any template change. Schema is easy to break during a redesign and the breakage is silent.
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