Google Structured Schema Markup and SEO

Schema markup structures on-page data, making it explicitly interpretable by search engines. It also provides semantic context for linked off-page assets, reinforcing their relevance. By enhancing data clarity and eliminating ambiguity, schema markup improves content discoverability, strengthens entity relationships, and boosts SEO effectiveness, potentially increasing visibility in rich search results.

Schema elements

Schema markup, semantic HTML and meta tags have overlapping structured data. HTML microdata can also be used to provide the structure.



Website and Organization Schema

Website and organizational schema structures information so it is unambigous. This information may be used in Google's Knowledge Panel.

Actual Site Name not Domain Name

Description of the site in more about and knowledge panel

Navigational Site Links

... Schema feeds Google's Knowledge Panel

Knowledge Panels are generated for terms with sufficient search interest and are sourced from various authoritative databases, websites, and structured data (including schema markup). Each panel is associated with a unique machine-readable entity ID (MREID), also known as a kgmid.


WebPage Schema

WebPage schema defines details on the page, type of content, and supplemental information the page links to.

Site Structure Breadcrumbs

Visual breadcrumbs help in site navigation ... for SEO they help to determine the interrelationship between pages on a website. In short provide the entity relationship information of the site.

... Byline published date and author

Google refers to the published date snippet in the page's link and description as a byline date, although many refer to the byline as the link to the author's information. Often these are the same. However, the author information is what ties into E-E-A-T and the date is the snippet used as a rich search feature.

It is important to ensure that the information represented in schema markup also exists visibly on the page. Schema helps disambiguate content, which can influence search rankings. While it is considered a ranking cofactor, its primary role is to enable structured data-based SERP features. Some SERP features require schema markup, while others do not. Implementing schema markup without relevant on-page content is incorrect, though such instances have appeared in search. Ultimately, content relevance is the primary ranking factor, and schema markup helps clarify that relevance.