- Start with Organization or LocalBusiness, then add Service, Product, Article and BreadcrumbList where they fit.
- Connect entities with @id and sameAs so search engines see one consistent brand.
- Markup must match what is visible on the page.
- Some rich results have been limited (FAQ) or retired (HowTo), but the markup still describes your content.
What schema markup does
Schema markup is structured data, usually written in JSON-LD, that describes the things on a page in a format machines understand: your business, its address, the services you sell, the author of an article. Google uses it to understand pages and to show rich results. AI-powered search features built on top of search indexes benefit from the same clarity.
The types that matter most
| Type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Organization | Your brand: name, logo, website, contact details and social profiles (sameAs). |
| LocalBusiness (or a subtype such as Dentist or LegalService) | Businesses with a physical location: address, opening hours, geo coordinates, phone. |
| Service | Each service page: what the service is, who provides it and where. |
| Product | Ecommerce products: price, availability, reviews. |
| Article / BlogPosting | Articles: headline, author, dates, publisher. |
| Person | Founders and authors, to connect expertise to your brand. |
| BreadcrumbList | Showing where a page sits in your site structure. |
Connect everything into one graph
The most common weakness we see is markup that exists in isolated pieces. Give your organization a stable @id (for example your homepage URL plus #organization) and reference it from every Service, Article and WebPage. Add sameAs links to your LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Google Business Profile. This builds a clear entity that search engines and AI systems can recognize everywhere.
The rules that keep markup useful
- Match visible content. Do not mark up reviews, prices or FAQs that users cannot see on the page.
- Be accurate. Wrong opening hours or an old address in schema are worse than none.
- Do not self-serve review stars. Google does not show star ratings for reviews a business publishes about itself on its own site for LocalBusiness and Organization types.
- Validate. Test with Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator after every change.
Recent changes to rich results
Google has limited FAQ rich results mainly to well-known authoritative government and health websites, and it has retired HowTo rich results. That does not make the markup harmful. It still describes your content clearly, but you should not expect these features to appear in search results.
A simple example for a local business
For a dental practice, a solid starting graph could include:
- A Dentist (a LocalBusiness subtype) node with name, address, phone, opening hours, geo coordinates, logo and sameAs links to its Google Business Profile and social profiles.
- A WebSite node that names the practice as publisher.
- A Service node on each treatment page, with the practice as provider.
- A Person node for each dentist, connected to the practice through worksFor.
- BreadcrumbList on every page.
Each node references the others by @id, so search engines see one connected picture instead of scattered fragments.
Common schema mistakes
- Using a plugin’s default settings without checking the business type, address or logo.
- Several plugins adding conflicting Organization markup to the same page.
- Marking up FAQs or reviews that are hidden from visitors.
- Leaving old information in markup after moving office or changing phone numbers.
- Choosing a schema type that does not match the page, for example Article on a service page.
Keep markup maintained
Treat structured data like the rest of your website: update it when details change, test it after redesigns and plugin updates, and check the enhancement reports in Google Search Console for new errors. A short quarterly check is usually enough for small sites.
Why this matters for AI search
AI answers depend on systems understanding which entity a page is about and whether the facts are consistent. Clean structured data, consistent business information across the web and clear on-page answers all reduce ambiguity. That is why schema is part of every AI search optimization project we run.
Not sure whether your markup is correct? Our technical SEO team can audit and fix it.
MD. TAMZID ULLAH is the Founder & CEO of ITCore and a Top Rated SEO expert and AI search visibility (AEO & GEO) strategist with 6+ years of experience. Meet the team.