Stop 03 · Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Topics · 10/12

Schema Markup Basics

In short

Ever seen star ratings, prices or FAQs right inside a Google result? That often comes from schema markup, a bit of structured data that explains your page to machines.

Structured data added to a page's code that helps search engines understand its content precisely — powering rich results like star ratings, FAQs, and recipe cards directly in search results.

The blob holds up a biscuit packet and points to a tidy info panel on its back.

Think of it like this

The label on a packet of biscuits

The packet has a picture for you, but also a neat table: weight, price, best before, ingredients. Shop billing machines read that part. Schema markup is that neat table for search engines.

Watch it happen

Structured data for one recipe page

Recipe

name

totalTime

aggregateRating

ratingValue 4.7

ratingCount 212

1/4The @type says what this page is about: a Recipe.

The big ideas

What you need to know

JSON-LD format

Google recommends JSON-LD: a small script block in the page that lists facts as key-value pairs.

Rich results

Schema can make a page eligible for extras like ratings, prices or event dates in results.

schema.org vocabulary

Types like Product, Recipe, LocalBusiness and Event come from the shared schema.org vocabulary.

Test it

Google's Rich Results Test checks your markup for errors and eligibility.

See it in code

Walk through the code

json

1{2  "@context": "https://schema.org",3  "@type": "Recipe",4  "name": "Cutting Chai",5  "totalTime": "PT10M",6  "aggregateRating": {7    "@type": "AggregateRating",8    "ratingValue": 4.7,9    "ratingCount": 21210  }11}

1/3Use the schema.org vocabulary and say this is a Recipe.

JSON-LD for a recipe page. On the site it sits inside a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Adding fake five-star ratings in schema.

Do this instead

Markup must match what users see. Misleading structured data can lead to a manual action from Google.

Oops

Expecting schema to boost rankings on its own.

Do this instead

It helps Google understand and display your page. Content quality still decides ranking.

Your mission

Test real schema

~15 min

Quick check

You add correct Product schema to a page. What can you expect?

Go deeper

1Use Google's Rich Results Test tool on a page with schema markup.
2Learn to identify 2-3 common schema types (FAQ, Article, Product) and what they enable.
3Understand schema doesn't directly boost rankings but can improve click-through rate.