Search Marketing FAQ

Three common reasons. Schema validates syntactically but missing Google's recommended properties (vs Schema.org spec properties). Page quality too low (Google won't show rich results for thin/spam content). Recent rich result deprecations - Google removed some rich result types (HowTo, FAQ for non-government/health) in 2023-2024. Check Google's current rich result eligibility docs.

in Schema Formats & Validation

Match schema to page content. Product page -> Product. Article -> Article (or NewsArticle, BlogPosting). FAQ section -> FAQPage. Local business -> LocalBusiness (or specific subtype). About page -> Organization + Person for founders. Recipe -> Recipe. Video page -> VideoObject. Most pages need 1-2 schema types; don't add irrelevant schema to chase eligibility.

in Schema Formats & Validation

Server-render structured data from the same data source as the visible page content. Don't hand-write JSON-LD separately from the page - inevitable drift. Use a single source: CMS field, headless API, or content database. Pages whose schema differs from visible content can trigger manual actions ('structured data spam') and rich result removal.

in Schema Formats & Validation

Quarterly at minimum. After every CMS/theme/template update. After Google's schema documentation updates. Use GSC Enhancement reports to catch errors at scale; spot-check with Rich Results Test. Track rich result impressions in GSC to confirm eligibility. Sites that ship schema once and never re-audit accumulate drift; rich result eligibility silently decays.

in Schema Formats & Validation

Eight required and recommended properties. @type ('Article', 'NewsArticle', or 'BlogPosting'). headline (matches H1, under 110 chars). image (1200px+ wide, AbsoluteURL). datePublished + dateModified (ISO 8601). author (Person object with name + URL). publisher (Organization with logo). mainEntityOfPage. Article schema unlocks Top Stories eligibility and AI engine citation.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

Product schema describes a sellable item with price, availability, reviews, ratings, and SKU. Unlocks product result rich snippets (price + rating + stock status in search results), Google Shopping eligibility, and product cards in AI engine responses. Required: name, image. Recommended: price, priceCurrency, availability, aggregateRating, review, sku, brand.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

FAQPage: page contains questions WITH their answers (the publisher provides the answers). QAPage: page contains one user question with possibly many community answers (Stack Overflow style). Use FAQPage on FAQ sections of your own site. QAPage is rare and primarily for community Q&A platforms. Google deprecated FAQ rich results for non-gov/non-health in 2023; FAQ schema still helps AI engines.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

Organization schema describes the company. Required: name, url. Recommended: logo (image URL), sameAs (social media URLs), address (PostalAddress), contactPoint (with telephone, contactType). For LocalBusiness, use the more specific subtype. Place Organization schema on About page and homepage. Powers Knowledge Panel eligibility and AI engine entity recognition.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

Describes individual people - authors, founders, executives, public figures. Required: name. Recommended: jobTitle, url, image, sameAs (social profiles), worksFor (Organization), affiliation, description, alumniOf. Powers author rich snippets, Knowledge Panel for public figures, and E-E-A-T signals. Add Person schema to author bio pages, About pages, and any article bylines.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

Recipe schema unlocks Recipe rich results - large image cards with cook time, ratings, calories, ingredient lists. Required: name, image. Recommended: author, datePublished, description, prepTime + cookTime + totalTime (ISO 8601 duration), recipeIngredient, recipeInstructions, nutrition, aggregateRating, review, video. Recipe sites benefit hugely from this; cooking content without Recipe schema gets text snippets.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

BreadcrumbList schema describes the hierarchical navigation path (Home > Category > Product). Required: itemListElement array with name, item (URL), position (1-indexed). Google displays breadcrumb trails in search results in place of full URLs - more user-friendly and shows site hierarchy. Standard implementation across e-commerce and content sites. Validates in Rich Results Test.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

VideoObject describes video content. Required: name, description, thumbnailUrl, uploadDate. Recommended: duration (ISO 8601), contentUrl OR embedUrl, transcript. Powers Video rich results in Google Search, key moments, and live-stream eligibility. Critical for pages with embedded YouTube/Vimeo videos and self-hosted video. AI engines increasingly cite videos with VideoObject schema.

in Schema Types Deep Dive

Organization: any company entity. LocalBusiness: a brick-and-mortar business with a physical location. LocalBusiness is a subtype of Organization with additional required properties (address, telephone, openingHours). Use LocalBusiness for restaurants, retail stores, service providers with physical locations. Use Organization for SaaS, online-only businesses, holding companies.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Use the most specific subtype that matches your business. Restaurant for restaurants. Dentist, Physician, Hospital for medical. Store for retail. AutoRepair for car repair. Plumber, Electrician, HVACBusiness for trades. Full list at schema.org/LocalBusiness. Specific subtypes provide more semantic clarity and unlock subtype-specific rich results. Fall back to LocalBusiness if no subtype fits.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Twelve high-value properties. name, image, address (PostalAddress with all 6 fields), telephone, url, openingHoursSpecification (preferred over openingHours), geo (latitude, longitude), priceRange, sameAs (social profiles), aggregateRating + review (if reviews on-page), hasMenu (restaurants), servesCuisine. Match GBP listing exactly - inconsistency hurts local rankings.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Yes. Google penalizes schema markup that describes content not visible on the page. Schema must reflect what users see. If you mark up FAQ schema for questions not displayed, that's structured data spam and can trigger manual actions. The 'invisible content' rule applies to all schema types. Hide schema-described content via CSS is borderline; absent content is forbidden.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Three-step process. Establish canonical NAP (name + address + phone) in a single source - usually Google Business Profile. Audit all citations (Yelp, BBB, Yellow Pages, niche directories) for matches. Audit on-site mentions (footer, contact page, location pages). LocalBusiness schema NAP must match exactly. Use Moz Local, BrightLocal, or Whitespark to find and fix discrepancies.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Yes. Each physical location needs its own LocalBusiness schema on its own location page. Required: separate address, telephone, openingHours, geo per location. Schema on a multi-location aggregator page should list each as separate LocalBusiness entries or link to dedicated location pages. Each location is its own entity to search engines.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Not recommended. Each LocalBusiness should describe one location. For multi-location businesses, use one LocalBusiness schema per location page. On a 'Locations' aggregator page, list each location as a separate Place or LocalBusiness in an ItemList. Putting multiple locations in one schema block confuses search engines and weakens entity recognition per location.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Use openingHoursSpecification (preferred over openingHours). Each entry: dayOfWeek, opens (HH:MM), closes (HH:MM). For holiday hours, add validFrom + validThrough dates. For temporary closures, use specialOpeningHoursSpecification with closes='00:00' for closed days. Update schema when hours change; align with GBP and on-page hours.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Add a GeoCoordinates object: geo: { @type: 'GeoCoordinates', latitude: 34.0522, longitude: -118.2437 }. Coordinates must match GBP exactly. Use Google Maps to find precise lat/long for your physical address. Geo coordinates improve local pack visibility and accurate map display. Required for some local rich results.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Indirect impact. LocalBusiness schema reinforces entity recognition (Google connects website to GBP listing) and powers some local rich results. Google Maps visibility primarily driven by GBP optimization (NAP consistency, categories, reviews, posts), not schema. LocalBusiness schema is necessary but not sufficient for local SEO. Pair with full GBP optimization.

in LocalBusiness Schema

Review schema describes a single review (review of a product, service, business). Still supported syntactically. Google deprecated review rich results for most use cases in 2023 (only allowed on specific entity types like Product, LocalBusiness, Book, Movie). Self-serving review snippets (reviewing yourself) are explicitly banned. Use AggregateRating with third-party review sources.

in Review Schema & Monitoring

Google narrowed eligible entity types - self-reviewed schema on Organization/LocalBusiness for the business's own reviews is no longer eligible for rich snippets. Reviews must come from third-party sources (Yelp, Trustpilot, BBB embed). Product, Book, Movie, Recipe entities can still display review stars. AggregateRating remains useful for AI engines even without rich result eligibility.

in Review Schema & Monitoring