Little Glossary · Measurement and search

Structured data (schema markup)

Structured data is code added to a page to describe its content so search engines understand it unambiguously: what an organization, a product, an article or an event is. It is based on the Schema.org vocabulary.

Updated October 5, 2026

How it works

Schema.org is a shared vocabulary created in 2011 by Google, Microsoft (Bing) and Yahoo, later joined by Yandex. It defines types (Organization, Product, Article, Event…) and their properties (name, logo, price, author, date).

The vocabulary can be added to a page in three formats: JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa. Google recommends JSON-LD: it's a script block separate from the visible HTML and easier to maintain.

Types that matter for B2B tech companies

  • Organization: company name, logo, website and social profiles.
  • WebSite and BreadcrumbList: site name and breadcrumb trail in results.
  • SoftwareApplication: category, operating system, price and product ratings.
  • Article or BlogPosting: author and dates for articles.
  • Event: webinars and events.

What it doesn't do

  • It doesn't guarantee rich results: Google decides when to show them.
  • Google has said on several occasions that it isn't a ranking factor in itself.
  • It must not describe content that isn't visible on the page; doing so breaks Google's guidelines and can lead to a manual action.

Google also changes which rich results it shows. In August 2023 it limited FAQ rich results to well-known government and health websites, and stopped showing HowTo rich results.

How to check it

  • Google's Rich Results Test: which types it detects and whether the page is eligible.
  • Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org): generic validation of the vocabulary.
  • Search Console: enhancement reports with errors and warnings by type.

Related terms

Sources

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