Why schema matters in 2026
Google uses schema to power rich results — stars, FAQs, prices, breadcrumbs in the SERP. Just as importantly, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews lean on structured data to confidently extract facts to quote. A page with good schema gets quoted; one without often gets skipped.
1. Organization (homepage)
Tells search engines who you are: name, logo, social profiles, contact. Add once on the homepage.
2. LocalBusiness (location pages)
For any business serving a physical area. Include address, geo-coordinates, openingHours, telephone and priceRange. Pairs with Google Business Profile for stronger local signals.
3. Article (blog posts)
headline, image, datePublished, dateModified, author. Eligible for Top Stories and powers AI citation cards.
4. FAQPage (FAQ sections)
Mark up 5–10 genuine Q&As per page. Still appears in AI Overviews and answer boxes even after Google trimmed FAQ-rich-result eligibility for non-authoritative sites.
5. BreadcrumbList (deep pages)
Replaces the ugly URL in search results with a readable breadcrumb trail — measurably improves CTR on long URLs.
6. Product / Service (commercial pages)
For e-commerce or service pages. Include name, description, image, offers (price, currency, availability) and aggregateRating where you have real reviews.
How to implement it (without breaking things)
- Always use JSON-LD inside a
<script type="application/ld+json">tag. Don't use microdata in 2026. - One block per type, per page. Don't duplicate.
- Validate every page in search.google.com/test/rich-results before publishing.
- Don't mark up content that isn't visible on the page — that's spam and Google will penalise it.