How and Why to Add Schema Markup to Your Website
Schema markup is one of those SEO terms that gets mentioned a lot, but rarely explained properly. It is often described as something technical, hidden in the code, and easy to ignore if your website already looks fine on the surface. The reality is that schema markup plays a much bigger role than many businesses realise, especially as search engines move away from simple keyword matching and towards understanding meaning, context and credibility.
At its core, schema markup helps search engines and answer engines, such as ChatGPT, understand what your content represents, not just what words appear on the page.
It adds structure and clarity behind the scenes, making it easier for search engines and AI-powered tools to identify who you are, what you offer and how your content fits into the wider web. In a world where search results increasingly rely on entities, trust signals and machine-readable information, schema markup has become less of a “nice to have” and more of a foundational SEO element.
What Is Schema Markup?
Schema markup is a way of helping search engines understand your website content more clearly. It does this by adding structured information behind the scenes that explains what a page is about, what type of content it contains and how different pieces of information relate to each other.
When someone visits your website, they see words, images and links. When a search engine visits your website, it sees code. Schema markup sits within that code and acts like a set of labels, giving context to the content you have already written. Instead of leaving search engines to infer meaning on their own.
For example, schema can tell search engines that a page is a blog article rather than a sales page, that a person mentioned is the author of the content, that a business is a real organisation with contact details, or that a section of text is a genuine question and answer rather than just a paragraph styled to look like one.
Importantly, schema markup does not change how your website looks to users. It does not add visible text or alter the design of your pages. Its job is purely to improve understanding and interpretation by search engines and, increasingly, AI-driven search tools.
Whether you’re looking to improve how your site shows on traditional search results, or are startinig to think about Answer Engine Optimisation - schema can help both to better understand the context of your website.
How Schema Markup Works
Most schema markup is added using a format called JSON-LD. It sits in the code of your page and acts like a structured summary of the content.
Think of it like this:
Your visible page = the article or service page people read
Your schema markup = the neatly filled-out form explaining what that page contains
For example, schema can tell search engines:
This page is an Article
It was written by Charlotte Sheridan
It belongs to The Small Biz Expert
It covers schema markup and SEO
It was published on X date
Search engines then use this structured information to:
Understand your content faster
Connect it to known entities (brands, people, organisations)
Decide how and when to surface it in results
This doesn’t guarantee rankings or rich results, but it removes ambiguity, which is critical in modern search.
Common types of schema markup
| Schema type | What it does | When it’s most useful |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation | Defines your business, including name, logo, contact details and social profiles. | Essential for reinforcing brand identity and legitimacy. |
| LocalBusiness | Adds location-specific details such as address, opening hours and service area. | Particularly helpful for local SEO and location-based searches. |
| Article / BlogPosting | Identifies a page as an article and includes author and publication details. | Ideal for blogs, guides and thought leadership content. |
| Person | Describes an individual and their relationship to the organisation. | Helps reinforce author expertise and experience. |
| Service | Explains the services you offer and who they are intended for. | Useful for core service pages where clarity matters. |
| FAQPage | Marks up genuine questions and answers shown on the page. | Supports common queries and search enhancements. |
| Product | Provides structured product details such as name, description and pricing. | Essential for ecommerce and product-focused pages. |
| Review / AggregateRating | Adds structured information about ratings and reviews. | Useful when real, visible reviews are present. |
| BreadcrumbList | Explains the page’s position within your site structure. | Helps search engines understand site hierarchy. |
| Event | Describes events including dates, locations and organisers. | Ideal for webinars, courses and in-person events. |
How to Implement Schema Markup (Without Getting Too Technical)
You do not need to be a developer to get started.
Option 1: Use Built-In Tools or Plugins
Depending on your platform, you may already have basic schema in place:
SEO plugins (on WordPress)
Ecommerce platforms
Some CMS themes
This usually covers the basics such as organisation, articles, and products.
Here are some helpful resources
Option 2: Add Custom JSON-LD
If your website doesn’t support schema or offer plug-ins, add your own custom schema. For important pages such as:
Core service pages
High-value blogs
About pages
Author pages
You can add a custom schema manually using JSON-LD. This gives you more control over:
Entity relationships
Author attribution
Service definitions
How you add this to your site will depend on the platform, but here are some helpful resources for the most commonly used CMS platforms.
Need some help adding schema to your website?
Get in touch with our friendly team who can help you to add schema markup to your site.
Validate and Keep It Clean
Once added, schema should be:
Valid (no errors)
Accurate
Kept up to date as content changes
Google’s Rich Results Test and Schema Validator can help catch obvious issues, but accuracy still matters more than ticking boxes.
How to Check Your Schema Markup (Step by Step)
You do not need specialist tools or developer access to check your schema markup. A couple of free tools will show you exactly what search engines can read from your pages.
Use Google’s Rich Results Test
Google’s Rich Results Test is the best place to start, particularly if you want to know whether your schema is eligible for enhanced search features.
Paste the full URL of the page you want to check into the Rich Results Test and run the test. Google will analyse the page and show you any structured data it detects. If your schema is valid and eligible for rich results, it will appear here. If there are errors or warnings, they will be clearly flagged.
This tool is useful for checking items such as FAQ schema, article markup, product data, and reviews. Even if a page is not eligible for rich results, the test still helps confirm that Google can read the schema correctly.
Use the Schema Markup Validator
For a more complete view of all schema on a page, the Schema Markup Validator is more detailed. This tool shows every type of structured data detected, not just those linked to rich results.
Enter your page URL and review the list of schema types found. This is particularly helpful for checking organisation, person, service and breadcrumb schema that may not trigger visible search features but still plays an important role in understanding and trust.
Look for errors first, then warnings. Errors mean something is broken or unreadable. Warnings usually indicate missing recommended fields, which are often worth improving but not urgent.
Common Schema Markup Mistakes to Avoid
Adding Schema That Does Not Match the Page Content
The schema should always reflect what users can actually see on the page. Marking up FAQs, reviews or services that are not clearly present in the visible content can cause structured data to be ignored or discounted by search engines.
Using Too Much or Irrelevant Schema
It can be tempting to add as many schema types as possible, but more is not always better. Adding schema that is not directly relevant to the page can create confusion and dilute the clarity that structured data is meant to provide.
Duplicated or Conflicting Schema
This often happens when multiple plugins or tools are generating schema automatically. Conflicting information, such as different business names, authors or addresses, makes it harder for search engines to trust the data they are seeing.
Leaving Schema Out of Date
Schema is often added once and then forgotten. As websites evolve, services change and content is updated, schema needs to be reviewed as well. Out-of-date information can undermine trust and accuracy.
Expecting Schema to Deliver Instant Results
Schema markup does not guarantee rankings, rich results or traffic increases on its own. It supports SEO and Answer Engine Optimisation over time by improving clarity and understanding, rather than acting as a quick win.
Schema markup plays an important role in helping search engines and AI tools understand your website clearly and accurately. By providing structure and context behind the scenes, it supports both SEO performance and long-term visibility in AI-driven search.
If you would like help reviewing your existing schema or understanding where structured data could be strengthened, get in touch and we can talk it through as part of a broader SEO audit or AEO review.
