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What is schema markup?

Schema markup is a small block of code that states, in a vocabulary search engines share, what a page is about: this is a product, it costs $149, it's in stock, 212 people rated it 4.6.

A person reading a product page sees the price next to the "Add to cart" button and understands it. A crawler sees text. Schema markup removes the guesswork by labelling the facts explicitly, using types and properties defined at schema.org.

What it looks like

Google recommends JSON-LD: a <script type="application/ld+json"> block that sits apart from your visible HTML. The same facts can be written as Microdata or RDFa attributes inside the HTML, but JSON-LD is easier to add and maintain.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Trailhead 2 hiking boot",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": 149,
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  }
}

@context says which vocabulary is used. @type names the thing. Everything else is a property of it, and properties can hold further typed things, like the Offer inside the product.

How Google uses it

Google reads the markup in stages: parse the JSON, recognise the type, check the properties its feature needs, then apply quality and policy checks. Only after all four can a page show a rich result: stars, prices, event dates, recipe times, breadcrumbs. The panel beside this guide lets you break each stage and see what happens.

Staged pipelines where one stall starves everything after it turn up in nature too: ahaboo walks through how a leaf's light reactions feed the sugar-making cycle of photosynthesis.

What it can and can't do

  • Can: make a page eligible for rich results, help Google connect entities (your brand, authors, products), and feed shopping, jobs and events experiences.
  • Can't: guarantee a rich result, act as a general ranking boost, or rescue thin content. Google's guidelines require markup to match what visitors see.
  • Changes over time: Google has retired several rich results, including How-to (2023), the sitelinks search box (2024), seven features in 2025, and FAQ (May 2026). See the retirement timeline.

Types worth adding in 2026

Start with what your page is. A store needs Product and Breadcrumb; a publisher needs Article and author profile pages; a clinic or shop needs LocalBusiness. Every site benefits from Organization and WebSite on the home page.

Then read how to add schema markup to your CMS or framework.

Try it: switch parts of a Product block on and off

Each switch changes the JSON-LD below. Watch where the pipeline stops.

1. ParseIs it well-formed JSON?
2. RecogniseWhich schema.org type is this?
3. RequiredAre Google's required fields there?
4. EligibleQuality and policy checks.

Eligible. Elements the markup can now feed: title link, price, availability, image (merchant surfaces). Google still chooses whether to show any of them, which is why no tool can promise a rich result.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Trailhead 2 hiking boot",
  "image": "https://example.com/boot.jpg",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": 149,
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  }
}

Common questions

Is schema markup a ranking factor?

Google has said structured data is not a general ranking factor. It helps Google understand a page and can make it eligible for rich results, which may change how the result looks.

Is schema.org the same as structured data?

Structured data is the general idea of labelling content in a machine-readable way. Schema.org is the shared vocabulary (types like Product and properties like price) founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex in 2011.

Do I need a developer?

Not for most sites. Generate the JSON-LD with a tool like this one and paste it into your CMS, theme or tag manager. Templates across thousands of pages are where a developer helps.