What is Schema Markup?

Schema markup is a small piece of code you add to a web page that helps search engines understand what the page is about. In layman's terms: your page might say “4.6 stars, $79, in stock,” and a human instantly gets it — but a search engine sees just text. Schema markup labels that text so the machine knows “this is a rating, this is a price, this is availability.”

It's also called structured data. The vocabulary comes from schema.org, a shared standard backed by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex. The recommended format for adding it is JSON-LD.

What is website schema used for?

When search engines understand your content, they can present it more richly. That's where rich results come from — the enhanced listings with star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs, event dates, recipe cards and more. Rich results take up more space and tend to attract more clicks.

A simple example

Here's FAQ schema in JSON-LD:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "What is schema markup?",
    "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Code that helps search engines understand your page." }
  }]
}
</script>

Does schema markup help SEO?

Schema markup is not a direct ranking factor, but it makes you eligible for rich results, which improve click-through rate — and it helps search engines understand your site's entities and relationships. Both indirectly support SEO.

How do I add it?

The easiest way is to generate it with a tool and paste it in. Start with our FAQ, Product or Article generators, then read how to add schema markup and explore the types of schema markup worth using.