Structured data provides machine-readable descriptions of content and entities on a page. It can help a search engine interpret a business, article, product or breadcrumb. It does not replace useful content, establish facts you have not demonstrated or guarantee a search feature.

Match the visible page

Start with the actual content. An article's title, author and dates should agree with what readers see. A product's price and availability must reflect the relevant offer. A service-area business should not invent street addresses or coordinates to populate a template.

Use a consistent identifier for the same organization across pages. A service page can refer to that provider instead of creating a new local business entity with a keyword-stuffed name for every town.

Separate Schema.org vocabulary from Google features

A valid Schema.org type is not necessarily eligible for a Google rich result. Check the currently supported search features and their requirements before promising an enhancement.

Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in May 2026. A useful on-page FAQ may still help customers, but adding FAQPage markup is not a route to that retired feature. Similarly, special files or extra schema types should not be sold as guaranteed AI-search visibility.

Validate in layers

  1. Confirm that the JSON is valid and safely embedded in the HTML.
  2. Check property names, identifiers and relationships against the relevant vocabulary.
  3. Use Google's Rich Results Test for supported features.
  4. Inspect the deployed page and compare markup with visible facts.
  5. Use Search Console to investigate issues after Google recrawls.

Passing a syntax test is not evidence that every statement is accurate or that Google will display an enhancement. Keep optional fields out when the information is not established; do not invent reviews, coordinates or credentials to remove a warning.

Our SEO service treats structured data as part of a wider crawl, content and measurement review. The Garden Route SEO checklist covers the practical foundations that should accompany it.