Glossary · SEO & Search
Schema Markup
Overview
How schema markup works
Schema markup uses the Schema.org vocabulary—a shared standard backed by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex—to label the meaning of your content. You describe entities with types and properties: an Article has an author and date, a Product has a price and rating, a LocalBusiness has an address and hours. It's most often written as JSON-LD, Google's recommended format, and added to the page's code.
Rich results and AI answers
Marking up content makes pages eligible for rich results—star ratings, FAQs, event dates, recipes, and product details that stand out in search and lift click-through rate. Schema isn't a direct ranking boost, but it helps search engines and AI answer tools understand entities and relationships, which increasingly matters for AI Overviews and answer engines. Validate implementations with Google's Rich Results Test.
Implementing schema across a site
The efficient approach is to template structured data so every page of a given type ships correct markup automatically—Organization and BreadcrumbList sitewide, LocalBusiness for the map pack, FAQPage where it fits, Product on store pages. As part of technical SEO and GEO/AEO work, we implement JSON-LD in the build, audit it with tools like Screaming Frog, and keep it in sync with visible content.
Where we use it
Related Zen in Tech services
How our team puts Schema Markup to work in real projects.
FAQ
Schema Markup — common questions
What's the difference between schema markup and structured data?
Structured data is the general idea of machine-readable page data. Schema markup is the specific implementation using the Schema.org vocabulary, usually written as JSON-LD. In practice, people use the terms interchangeably.
Does schema markup improve rankings?
Schema is not a direct ranking factor, but it enables rich results and helps search engines and AI answer tools understand your content. That typically lifts click-through rate and visibility, which supports performance.
What format should I use for schema markup?
Google recommends JSON-LD, a script block placed in the page's HTML. It's easier to add and maintain than inline Microdata or RDFa because it lives separately from your visible content.
Keep exploring
Related terms
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Knowledge hub
From our knowledge hub
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