Schema markup that actually helps your SEO (and what to skip)

Schema markup is the most misunderstood part of technical SEO. Half the agencies that sell “schema implementation” are adding fields that Google ignores. Here’s what to actually do.

What schema does (and doesn’t)

Schema does not boost rankings directly. What it does:

Earns you rich results (star ratings, FAQ accordions, breadcrumbs, video thumbnails).
Helps Google understand your content better, which indirectly helps relevance scoring.
Sets you up for AI search citations (Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews).

Schemas worth implementing

Organization — site-wide. Tells Google who you are.
WebSite — enables sitelinks search box in some cases.
BreadcrumbList — earns breadcrumb display in SERPs.
Article / BlogPosting — on every blog post. Required for Top Stories.
FAQPage — on pages with real FAQs. Used to earn FAQ rich snippets. Google reduced this in 2023 but it still helps for some queries.
LocalBusiness — if you serve a physical location.
Service — on service pages.
Product + Review + AggregateRating — for e-commerce.
VideoObject — if you embed videos. Earns video thumbnails in SERPs.

Schemas to skip (or be cautious of)

HowTo — Google deprecated rich results for HowTo in late 2023. Still valid markup, but the visual payoff is gone.
Speakable — only used by a handful of voice assistants.
Course, JobPosting, Event — only implement if you actually offer these. Don’t fake it.
Review on your own services — self-reviews don’t earn rich results. Reviews must come from third parties.

Implementation gotchas

JSON-LD, not microdata or RDFa. Google’s preference, easier to maintain.
Match the visible content. If your schema says you have 4.8 stars and your page doesn’t show reviews, you’ll earn a manual action.
Validate before deploying. Use Google’s Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator.
Don’t double-mark. If you have FAQ schema on one page, don’t repeat the same FAQ on five other pages.

Example: Article schema for a blog post

A minimum-viable BlogPosting schema. Ten lines that unlock rich-result eligibility.

A sane minimum for an agency site

For a marketing site like the one you’re reading, the minimum to implement:

Organization site-wide
WebSite site-wide
BreadcrumbList on all non-root pages
Service on each service page
BlogPosting on each blog post
LocalBusiness on home + contact (if applicable)

That’s it. Everything beyond this is diminishing returns until you have a content type that earns its own rich result.

Tooling

astro-seo, next-seo, or just write JSON-LD by hand. It’s not complicated.
For WordPress: Yoast and RankMath both auto-generate the basics. Trust them, but verify with Rich Results Test.
Monitor schema warnings in Google Search Console under “Enhancements.”

Get the basics right and don’t chase exotic schemas. The leverage is in coverage, not creativity.