Schema.org
Schema.org is a shared vocabulary of types and properties, maintained collaboratively by major search engines, used to describe the meaning of web content in a machine-readable way.
It provides the nouns — Organization, Product, LocalBusiness, FAQPage, Person — and the properties that describe them. Publishers embed these as JSON-LD so machines can parse meaning rather than infer it.
Choosing the most specific applicable type matters. A law firm marked up as Organization is understood generically; the same firm marked up as LegalService carries its category in the data itself.
Why it matters
It is the common language every major engine already understands. Using it correctly is the difference between describing your business and merely mentioning it.
An example
A veterinary clinic can be described as an Organization, a LocalBusiness, or a VeterinaryCare. All three are valid. The last one states the clinic's category in the data itself, so an engine answering a question about vets does not have to infer it from the page copy.
Common mistakes
- Always choosing the most generic type. More specific types carry more meaning.
- Inventing properties that do not exist in the vocabulary. Unknown properties are ignored rather than read.
Questions
- Who maintains schema.org?
- It was launched in 2011 by the major search engines as a shared vocabulary, and is maintained collaboratively as an open community project. That shared origin is why every major engine understands it.
- How many schema.org types do I need?
- Usually very few. An Organization or LocalBusiness block sitewide, plus Article, Product, Service or FAQPage on the pages they describe, covers most businesses. Hundreds of other types exist but rarely matter for being identified.