By: Brooke Berner, SEO + Content Coordinator
Schema markup is an essential, yet nebulous, tool that can take sites to greater heights within search results. However, because of its confusing nature, many beginners to schema fail to properly utilize it. Let’s explore schema markup from a basic lens and pinpoint what to do to make sure it works as intended.
What is Schema Markup?
Schema markup, also known as structured data, is a type of code that was built specifically for search engines. Its main goal is to assist search engines in understanding the on-page content as well as the content’s purpose. It also greatly boosts your site’s eligibility to appear in rich results where users are more likely to engage with the search results.
Why Schema is Important & How it Actually Works
Schema is important for every site because it clearly labels the name of your brand or organization and establishes connections to outside entities– if done properly. The best way to understand this is through an example.
If we were creating schema for the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s website (our team is based in Grand Rapids, MI), we would utilize organization schema that would establish the organization’s name as Grand Rapids Public Museum. Then, we would use sameAs schema and provide a link to this museum’s Wikipedia page. This makes it crystal clear to search engines that the museum my website talks about is the exact same museum that the Wikipedia page discusses. While this may seem obvious to humans, search engines welcome any clarifying information, regardless of how simple it may be.
As a best practice, we recommend creating schema using JSON-LD. If you’re unfamiliar with coding, there are schema markup generators available online, though they tend to be limited in their capabilities. You can opt to use an AI agent to create schema, but be mindful that not all of its recommendations are sound; you’ll have to parse through the good and bad suggestions.
Schema for GEO/AIO
Good news: the strategies for implementing schema for search engines and for LLMs (Large Language Models– or AI chatbots) are pretty much identical. The general rule of thumb is that optimizing for search engines is also optimizing for AI. AI Models gather their information from various search engines, so ranking well organically often correlates with ranking well within AI.
AI’s reading and processing of schema is much more limited than search engines, but they still rely on some schema to help identify organizations and people and connect them to other entities and profiles across the internet. They’re just simply not going to take the time to process all of the JSON script there. (Remember, money is time for AI models.)
How Most Sites Misuse Schema
Like other forms of coding, many people could have very different approaches to creating schema that intends to accomplish the same goals. So while there are many different styles of writing schema for your website, some guidelines can help promote your website to search engines.
Misplacing the Schema Code
A simple mistake that many beginners make is inserting their schema into the wrong section of their site’s code. Schema markup should live in the header of a page (the <head> section of HTML) to keep it simple for auditing processes. Search engines typically can still find schema if it is located within the body (<body>) part of the page’s HTML, but should you need to make edits to the schema, it’s nice to have it in a predictable place.
Implementing Schema with JavaScript
The major search engines typically have no issues with reading JavaScript; however, many AI crawlers cannot yet process JavaScript. So, if you choose to implement your structured data within JavaScript, you’re limiting your site’s exposure to AI, which then limits your overall brand discoverability.
This goes beyond schema: any content that lives with JavaScript and not HTML will not be read by AI models, so try to stick with just the HTML.
Overusing Schema
As there are so many different types of schema, it’s easy to get ahead of yourself. However, sometimes less is more. While some schema can be applied to your site globally, there are other types of schema that are best suited to live on one page only. Keep in mind that the more schema that lives on a page, the longer it will take for that page to load. Slow pages lead to a frustrating user experience and lower organic rankings.
Not Validating Schema
Perhaps the most overlooked step in the process is validating whether your schema can be read. Schema.org has a free schema validation tool that you should absolutely take advantage of. This tool will allow you to test URLs or raw code for schema detection. It will also inform you which line of code is creating a syntax error should you run into that (and we all do).
Partner with BlackTruck for SEO Services
As a search marketing agency, we proudly specialize in search engine optimization services, including schema recommendations. Connect with our team to discover how we can help your site gain the organic traction it deserves.
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