Schema markup is structured data added to a web page's code, usually in JSON-LD format, that describes the page's content in a standard vocabulary from Schema.org. It helps search engines and other machines understand things like who your organization is, what a product costs or who wrote an article.
Why It Matters for Your Website
Search engines can read your page, but schema removes the guesswork. It states clearly that this is your company, this is your logo, this is a product with this price. That clarity can make pages eligible for rich results in Google, such as review stars, breadcrumbs or product details.
Eligibility is not a guarantee. Google decides whether to show rich results, and it has narrowed some types over time. For example, FAQ rich results now show mainly for well-known government and health sites. Schema also does not guarantee citations in AI assistants. Think of it as basic hygiene that makes your site easier to understand, not a ranking trick.
Schema also helps connect the dots across the web. Organization markup that links to your LinkedIn, Crunchbase or press pages helps search engines tie those profiles to the same company. That is useful when you are new or share a name with another business.
What Good Looks Like
Organization schema on the homepage, with your official name, logo, URL and social profiles.
Page-specific types that match what is actually on the page, such as Article, Product or BreadcrumbList.
Markup reflects visible content. Nothing in the schema contradicts or adds to what users can see.
It passes Google's Rich Results Test without errors.
It is generated from your CMS fields where possible, so it stays accurate when content changes.
Search Console shows no outstanding structured data errors.
Google's introduction to structured data lists the types it currently supports.
A simple example: an Organization block lists your company name, website URL, logo file and social profile links in a short JSON-LD script on the page. Visitors never see it. Search engines read it each time they crawl the page.
The most common problems are markup copied from a template that still names the wrong company, product schema with outdated prices, and review markup describing reviews the page does not show. Each of these can make pages ineligible for rich results, and misleading markup can lead to a manual action from Google.
Questions to Ask an Agency
Which schema types will you add, and why do they fit our pages?
Is the markup tied to our CMS so it updates automatically, or hardcoded?
How will you validate it, and who checks Search Console for errors afterward?
What results should we realistically expect, and what can schema not do?
Will you check for old markup from plugins or templates that may conflict with the new setup?
How Goodspeed Handles It
Schema is part of our two-week website tune-up. We check what markup exists, fix errors, add the types that fit your pages and connect them to your CMS fields where the platform allows, so the data stays accurate as your team edits.
Related Terms
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
llms.txt
Website Audit