What is schema markup? A plain-English guide for business websites

When a person reads your contact page, they understand that "1-800-944-3688" is a phone number and "Mon to Fri, 9 to 5" is your opening hours. A search engine has to work that out. Usually it manages, sometimes it gets it wrong, and sometimes it doesn't bother.

Schema markup removes the guesswork. It's a small block of code that labels the facts on a page in a format search engines and AI tools all understand: this is a business, this is its name, this is its phone number, these are its hours, this page is an article written on this date.

What schema markup looks like

The vocabulary comes from Schema.org, a shared standard started by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex. The format Google recommends is JSON-LD, which sits in the page's code and doesn't change anything visitors see. A simplified example for a plumbing company looks like this:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Example Plumbing",
  "telephone": "+1-306-555-0100",
  "areaServed": "Regina, SK",
  "openingHours": "Mo-Fr 08:00-17:00"
}

Each line is a labelled fact. Search engines read the block, match it with what's on the page, and use it to understand the business.

Does schema markup help SEO?

Not as a direct ranking boost. Google has said many times that structured data on its own doesn't move a page up the results. What it does is help search engines understand your pages correctly and qualify them for rich results, the fancier listings with extras like star ratings, prices, breadcrumbs or event dates.

It also matters more now that AI tools assemble answers from several sources. A page that clearly states what a business is, where it works and what it offers is easier to quote accurately than one where the AI has to piece that together from loose text. We cover that side in our guide to AEO and GEO.

Which types does a business website need?

Most business sites only need a handful.

Organization or LocalBusiness

This goes on the homepage (or across the site) and describes the business itself: name, logo, phone, email, website, address or service area, opening hours and links to your official profiles on other sites. If you serve customers in a particular area, use LocalBusiness or one of its more specific subtypes, such as Plumber, AutoRepair, Dentist or Restaurant. The more specific type tells search engines more.

The sameAs property deserves a mention. It lists your Google Business Profile, Facebook, LinkedIn and other official profiles, which helps search engines connect them all to the same business.

Service

On each service page, a Service block describes what the service is, who provides it and where. It's a simple way to make your service pages unambiguous.

BreadcrumbList

Breadcrumbs show where a page sits in your site (Home, then Services, then SEO, for example). Google can display them in place of the raw URL in results, which looks cleaner and tells searchers where they'll land.

Article or BlogPosting

For blog posts and news: headline, author, publish date, date updated and image. It helps Google show the right date and understand who wrote the piece.

Product

For online stores, Product markup with price, availability and reviews can earn the richer shopping listings in Google. Most e-commerce platforms add this automatically, but it's worth checking it's correct, especially prices and stock status. Our e-commerce development work always includes it.

FAQPage

FAQ markup used to put expandable questions under your listing in Google. Google stopped showing those FAQ rich results in 2026, so don't expect a visual change from it any more. The markup is still valid Schema.org, though, and it's a tidy way to label question-and-answer content, which other search engines and AI tools can still read.

Things schema can't do

Schema has to describe what's on the page. Marking up reviews that aren't shown, prices that don't match, or a business address that's different from the one in your footer is a breach of Google's guidelines and can lead to a manual action, which removes your rich results.

One specific trap: review stars for your own business. Google doesn't show star ratings in results for reviews a business collects about itself and marks up on its own site, for LocalBusiness or Organization types. Plenty of plugins still offer this. It won't work, and it isn't worth the risk.

How to add schema markup

It depends on your website.

• WordPress: SEO plugins such as Yoast and Rank Math add Organization, Article and Breadcrumb markup automatically. For LocalBusiness detail you may need their premium versions or a dedicated schema plugin.
• Shopify, Wix and Squarespace add basic markup themselves. You can usually add more through apps or a custom code block.
• Custom-built sites: your developer adds JSON-LD to the page templates, which keeps it accurate as content changes. This is how we build it on the sites we make, with the data pulled from the same place as the visible content so the two can't drift apart.

How to test it

Use two free tools. Google's Rich Results Test shows which rich results a page qualifies for and flags errors. The Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org checks the markup against the full Schema.org vocabulary, including types Google doesn't use for rich results.

After that, Google Search Console reports on the structured data it finds across your site, under the Enhancements section, and emails you when something breaks.

A short checklist

1. LocalBusiness (or Organization) markup with details that match your website footer and Google Business Profile.
2. Service markup on each service page.
3. Breadcrumbs across the site.
4. Article markup on blog posts with real dates and an author.
5. Product markup on store pages, checked against real prices.
6. A test in the Rich Results Test after any redesign.

If you'd like a check of your current markup, or help adding it, it's included in our SEO services and AI search optimization work.