Short answer: schema markup is structured data — usually written in JSON-LD — that tells search engines and AI systems exactly what a page is about: your organization, location, services, articles, FAQs and breadcrumbs. It doesn't directly guarantee higher rankings, but it makes your content easier to understand, eligible for rich results, and more reliable for AI systems to cite.
Why JSON-LD?
Google recommends JSON-LD because it sits in a script tag separate from your visible HTML, making it easy to add and maintain. It uses the shared vocabulary from schema.org.
The schema types most business websites need
1. Organization (site-wide)
Your name, logo, URL, contact points and social profiles (sameAs). This is the foundation of your entity — how search engines and AI understand who you are.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Company",
"url": "https://www.example.com",
"logo": "https://www.example.com/logo.png",
"sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/example"]
}2. LocalBusiness (for real locations)
Use LocalBusiness or a specific subtype only for physical locations you actually operate, with address, geo coordinates, hours and phone. Don't add fake addresses for cities you merely serve — use areaServed on your Service schema instead.
3. Service
Describe each service page: name, description, provider, serviceType and areaServed (cities, states or countries).
4. Article / BlogPosting
For blog posts: headline, author, publisher, datePublished, dateModified and image. Accurate dates help freshness signals.
5. FAQPage
Marks up question–answer pairs. Since 2023, Google shows FAQ rich results mainly for authoritative government and health sites, so most businesses won't see the expandable FAQ snippet — but the markup still helps machines understand Q&A content, which AI answer engines use heavily.
6. BreadcrumbList
Shows your site hierarchy and can replace the URL with a breadcrumb trail in search results.
7. Product, Review and Offer (ecommerce)
Price, availability and ratings for product pages; eligible for rich product results.
Connecting entities with @id
Give your Organization an @id (for example https://www.example.com/#organization) and reference it as the provider or publisher on every Service and Article. This builds a consistent knowledge graph across your site instead of disconnected snippets.
Rules to follow
- Markup must match visible page content. Don't mark up FAQs or reviews users can't see.
- Never mark up fake reviews or ratings.
- Validate with Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator.
- Monitor the Enhancements reports in Google Search Console.
What schema can't do
Schema won't rescue thin or unhelpful content, and it isn't a substitute for links, reviews and authority. Think of it as a clear label on a good product — necessary, but not sufficient.
Schema and AI search
AI systems combine what they read on your page with structured signals about your organization. Consistent schema across every page — the same name, logo, address and services — strengthens the entity understanding behind AI citations.
Get it implemented
Globalique implements complete, validated schema across service, location, blog and product pages as part of our SEO/GEO/AEO/AIO service and every website we build.