Technical SEO & Website Performance

Structured Data and Schema Markup: What It Does and How to Validate It

A practical introduction to structured data: what schema markup is, which types are still useful, what changed with FAQ and other rich results, how to validate markup and the mistakes that cause problems.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026

Structured data is extra information in a page’s code that describes its content in a standard format, usually using the vocabulary from schema.org. It helps search engines understand things like “this page is an article”, “this is a local business with these opening hours” or “this product costs this much”. For some content types it can make a page eligible for enhanced results, often called rich results.

What structured data can and cannot do

What it can do:

Help search engines understand the type of content and key details on a page.
Make pages eligible for supported search features, such as product details or breadcrumbs.
Keep important facts, such as a business’s name, address and opening hours, consistent and machine-readable.

What it cannot do:

It does not guarantee a rich result. Google decides whether to show one.
It is not required to appear in Google’s AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google states that there is no special schema you need to add for those features.
It does not replace helpful visible content. Markup must describe what users can actually see on the page.

The usual format: JSON-LD

Google recommends JSON-LD: a block of structured data placed in a script tag, separate from the visible HTML. Most WordPress SEO plugins, including Rank Math, generate JSON-LD automatically for common types such as Organization, WebSite, WebPage, Article or BlogPosting, and BreadcrumbList. For many small business websites, these defaults plus accurate settings are enough.

Which types are useful for a typical business or blog

Type	Useful for	Notes
Organization or LocalBusiness	Your business identity and contact details	Must match your real name, address and phone number
Article or BlogPosting	Blog posts and guides	Usually added automatically by SEO plugins
BreadcrumbList	Showing the page’s place in the site structure	Google notes breadcrumbs appear on desktop results
Product, Offer, Review snippet	Product pages with genuine prices and reviews	Never mark up reviews or ratings that are not genuine
Event, JobPosting, Recipe, Video	Pages that really contain these things	Follow each type’s specific requirements

Rich results that have changed

Search features change, so always check Google’s current documentation before relying on a rich result. Some examples, confirmed from Google’s documentation update history (checked October 2026):

How-to rich results were removed from Google Search in September 2023.
FAQ rich results were restricted to well-known government and health websites in 2023, and Google announced that the FAQ rich result would no longer appear in Google Search from 7 May 2026. Its documentation was removed in June 2026.
Several other types, including course info, estimated salary, learning video, special announcement and vehicle listing, were phased out in 2025.

FAQ sections can still be helpful to readers, but adding FAQ markup in the hope of extra space in Google results is no longer a reason to do so.

How to validate structured data

Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results): checks whether a page’s markup is eligible for Google’s supported rich results and shows errors or warnings.
Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org): checks general schema.org syntax, including types Google does not use for rich results.
Search Console enhancement reports: after Google crawls your pages, reports for supported types show valid items and errors across the site.
View the page source and look for application/ld+json to see exactly what is output, especially when several plugins may add markup.

Common mistakes

Marking up content that is not visible on the page, such as reviews or FAQs that users cannot see.
Fake or self-written reviews and ratings. Google’s review snippet guidelines prohibit misleading and undisclosed incentivised reviews, and marking them up can lead to a manual action.
Duplicate or conflicting markup from two plugins, for example two different Organization entities with different names.
Wrong business details, such as an old address or a phone number that does not match the website and Google Business Profile.
Using LocalBusiness markup for locations where you have no real office.
Expecting markup to fix a weak page. It describes content; it does not improve it.

A short checklist for WordPress sites

Confirm your SEO plugin’s site-wide settings: organisation name, logo, contact details and social profiles.
Make sure only one plugin outputs structured data for the same thing.
Test your home page, a service page and a blog post in the Rich Results Test.
Remove any review or rating markup that is not based on genuine, visible reviews.
Recheck after changing themes, plugins or business details.

Worked example

A physiotherapy clinic in Pune uses Rank Math. Its settings already output Organization and WebSite markup, and each blog post outputs BlogPosting. The clinic adds its exact name, address, phone number and opening hours in the plugin’s local business settings, matching its Google Business Profile and contact page. It removes an old review widget that marked up hand-picked testimonials as ratings. It then tests the home page in the Rich Results Test and checks the Search Console enhancement reports a few weeks later.

Common questions

Do I need to write code to add structured data?

Usually not. WordPress SEO plugins generate the common types automatically. Custom JSON-LD is mainly needed for special cases, and it should be added carefully and validated.

Should I still add FAQ markup?

FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search (from May 2026), so there is no Google search display benefit. Keep helpful FAQ content for readers; the markup itself is optional.

Can structured data hurt my site?

Accurate markup does not harm a site. Misleading markup, such as fake reviews or details that do not match the page, can lead to a manual action and the loss of rich result eligibility.

Next step

Structured data supports content that is already clear and accurate. To make that content trustworthy for both people and search features, read building trust for AI search: entities, E-E-A-T and original information and Core Web Vitals explained. This guide is part of Module 10 of our free SEO course (Advanced SEO). Schema markup has its own module in our SEO Course in Pune.

Sources (checked 14 October 2026): Google Search Central, Latest Google Search documentation updates, Introduction to structured data and AI features and your website.