SEO February 24, 2026

What Is Schema Markup and Why Does Your Website Need It?

Yes, most business sites should have it: schema markup is JSON-LD code that tells Google exactly what a page describes and makes it eligible for rich results such as product prices. It does not guarantee them, and Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on 7 May 2026.

hirethecreatives Last updated October 2026

Schema markup is code you add to your website that helps search engines understand what your content actually means, not just what it says. It’s one of the most underused SEO techniques, and implementing it correctly can dramatically improve how your site appears in search results.

What Schema Does

When Google crawls your website, it reads text, but it doesn’t always understand context. Schema markup tells Google explicitly: “This is a business. This is our phone number. These are our opening hours. This page is a product. This is its price and availability.”

This structured data enables rich results in Google, star ratings, pricing, FAQs, breadcrumbs, and more. These enhanced listings get significantly higher click-through rates than standard blue links.

Types of Schema That Matter Most

Organization: Your business name, logo, contact info, and social profiles.
LocalBusiness: Address, opening hours, service area, critical for local SEO.
Product: Price, availability, reviews, triggers shopping-style search results.
Article/BlogPosting: Helps your blog posts appear in Google’s Top Stories and news results.
FAQ: Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on 7 May 2026, so do not add FAQPage markup expecting expandable answers in Google results.
BreadcrumbList: Shows your site hierarchy in search results, improving navigation.
Service: Describes what services you offer, useful for agencies and consultants.

How to Implement Schema

The recommended format is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data). It’s a script block you add to your page’s HTML and it doesn’t affect the visible content. Google supports Microdata and RDFa too, but recommends JSON-LD as the easiest to implement and maintain.

You can test your schema using Google’s Rich Results Test to see exactly what Google reads from your markup.

Our Approach

Every website we build includes comprehensive schema markup as standard: Organisation, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList, and page-specific schemas for portfolio items, services, and blog posts. It’s built into our theme, not a plugin afterthought.

Want schema markup added to your existing site? Get in touch.

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Frequently asked questions

Does schema markup guarantee rich results?

No. Correct markup with all the required properties makes a page eligible for a rich result, but Google decides whether to show one.

Is JSON-LD the best format for schema markup?

Yes, in most cases. Google supports JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa, but recommends JSON-LD because it is the easiest to implement and maintain and less prone to errors.

Does Google still show FAQ rich results?

No. Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on 7 May 2026 and has removed the documentation. FAQPage remains valid schema.org markup, it just no longer produces expandable answers in Google.

Do I need schema to appear in Google AI Overviews?

No. Google says there is no special schema.org structured data needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. The page has to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet.

How much does it cost to add schema to an existing site?

£299 a month on our SEO Foundation plan, which includes schema and AI-readability setup alongside technical SEO, cancel any time. Every new site we build includes schema as standard, from £495.