Schema Markup Explained

Structured data that tells search engines and AI systems what your content actually means — like a nutrition label for your website. Without it, AI systems have to guess. With it, you tell them.

Check Your Schema — Free

What Is Schema Markup?

Schema markup is a standardised vocabulary (defined at schema.org) that you add to your website's code. It doesn't change how your pages look to visitors — it adds an invisible layer of structured information that machines can read.

The most common format is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data), which sits in a <script> tag in your page's HTML. Google, Bing and AI systems all support JSON-LD.

Schema Types Every Business Needs

Organization / LocalBusiness

Who You Are & Where You Are

The most fundamental schema type. Tells AI systems your business name, address, phone, website, logo and operating hours. Use LocalBusiness for physical locations.

Enables: "What is [your business]?" and "Where is [your business] located?"

Service

What You Offer & At What Price

Describes what your business offers — service names, descriptions, pricing and delivery areas. Critical for service-based businesses.

Enables: "What services does [your business] offer?" and "How much does [service] cost?"

Product

Physical & Digital Products

Name, description, price, availability and reviews for products. Enables rich product snippets in search results and accurate AI product recommendations.

Enables: Rich product cards and accurate pricing in AI answers.

FAQPage

Questions & Answers

Marks up frequently asked questions and their answers. One of the most impactful schema types for GEO because AI systems love Q&A content.

Enables: Answers appear in Google featured snippets and AI responses.

Article / BlogPosting

Editorial Content

Identifies content as articles or blog posts with headline, author, date and description. Essential for content marketing and AI attribution.

Enables: AI systems attribute information and reference your articles as sources.

BreadcrumbList

Site Navigation Context

Describes the navigation path to a page (e.g. Home → Services → Schema). Helps search engines and AI systems understand your site structure and hierarchy.

Enables: Enhanced search snippets and better site structure understanding.

Common Schema Mistakes

No Schema At All

The most common issue. Many websites have zero structured data — completely invisible to AI systems.

Only Organization

Adding company details but forgetting to mark up services, products and FAQ content.

Invalid JSON-LD

Syntax errors in the markup that prevent search engines from reading it entirely.

Mismatched Data

Schema data doesn't match visible page content — can result in penalties from search engines.

How to Check Your Schema

Free Tools

Interon's free audit — our AI Readiness Audit detects all schema types and identifies what's missing
Google's Rich Results Test — tests individual pages for valid schema markup
Schema.org Validator — validates your JSON-LD against the schema.org specification

Manual Check

View your page source (right-click → View Page Source) and search for application/ld+json to see your raw schema data.

If you find nothing, your website has no structured data — and AI systems are guessing about your business.

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Check Your Schema Markup

Interon's free audit detects all schema types on your website and tells you exactly what's missing and how it affects your AI Readiness score.

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