Schema markup for beginners: what JSON-LD is, with copy-ready examples

What is schema markup?

Schema markup, also called structured data, is code that describes the things on a page, such as a business, an article or a product, in a vocabulary search engines share.

The vocabulary comes from schema.org, a project started by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex. It defines types such as Organization, Article and Product, and properties such as name, author and price.

A visitor reads "Blue Trail Running Shoe, $89.99, in stock". Structured data states the same facts in a fixed format, so a crawler does not have to guess which number is the price. Google uses it to understand the page and, for some types, to show a rich result such as a product price or a breadcrumb trail. See Google's introduction to structured data.

JSON-LD vs Microdata vs RDFa

Google supports all three formats and recommends JSON-LD, because it lives in one script block instead of being woven through the HTML.

Every example below is JSON-LD. Put each one inside a script tag like this:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{ ...the JSON object... }
</script>

Which schema types still earn rich results in 2026?

Article, Product, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList, Organization, Event, Recipe and VideoObject can still earn rich results; FAQ is limited and HowTo was removed.

FAQPage and HowTo markup is still valid schema.org and does no harm, but most sites should not expect the old dropdowns or step lists. Google lists every current feature in its search gallery; check it before you build markup for a feature you remember from a few years ago.

Copy-ready JSON-LD examples

Start from these four examples, replace every example.com value with your real details, and keep each fact identical to what visitors see on the page.

Organization

Add this once, usually on the home page or about page. Use absolute URLs for the logo and list only profiles you control in sameAs.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Example Company",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "logo": "https://example.com/images/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/example-company",
    "https://x.com/examplecompany"
  ]
}

Article

Use Article or BlogPosting on a blog post or news story. Dates use ISO 8601 format, and the author should be the person named on the page.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "How to Choose Trail Running Shoes",
  "image": ["https://example.com/images/trail-shoes.jpg"],
  "datePublished": "2026-10-01T08:00:00+00:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-15T09:30:00+00:00",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Jane Doe",
    "url": "https://example.com/authors/jane-doe"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Example Company",
    "logo": "https://example.com/images/logo.png"
  }
}

BreadcrumbList

List each level of the path in order. The last item is the current page; Google lets you leave out its item URL.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://example.com/" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Running Shoes", "item": "https://example.com/running-shoes/" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Blue Trail Running Shoe" }
  ]
}

Product

Price, currency and availability must match the product page. Only add aggregateRating when the page shows real customer reviews with that rating and count.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Blue Trail Running Shoe",
  "image": ["https://example.com/images/blue-trail-shoe.jpg"],
  "description": "A lightweight trail running shoe with a grippy outsole.",
  "sku": "BTRS-42",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Example Company" },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "url": "https://example.com/running-shoes/blue-trail",
    "price": "89.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.6",
    "reviewCount": "128"
  }
}

Need a different type, such as LocalBusiness or FAQPage? The schema markup generator builds it from a simple form.

Does schema markup help with AI answers?

Schema markup can make your entities clearer to AI systems, but no AI assistant promises to cite a page because it has structured data.

Clear Organization, Person and Product markup states who you are, who wrote a page and what you sell in a form machines read without guessing. That supports the same understanding that Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity rely on, alongside the visible text, links and mentions on other sites.

Treat it as one signal among many. The page still has to answer the question well and be crawlable by the AI bots you want. Our guide on how to get cited in AI Overviews covers the rest.

Common schema markup errors

Most schema problems come from missing required fields, markup that does not match the visible page, relative URLs and duplicated blocks.

How to test your schema markup

Generate the JSON-LD, publish it, then check the live page with a validator and Google's Rich Results Test.

1. Build the markup

   Use the free schema markup generator to create JSON-LD for Organization, Article, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList, Product or FAQPage from a form.

2. Validate the live page

   Paste the published URL into the schema markup validator. It reads every JSON-LD block, flags missing fields and shows each type's current Google rich result status.

3. Confirm with Google

   Run important pages through Google's Rich Results Test, then watch the enhancement reports in Search Console for errors across the site.

4. Check the rest of the page

   Schema is one item on the on-page SEO checklist; titles, headings and internal links still matter more for rankings.

Questions and answers