Schema Markup Types Worth Adding in 2026, and the Ones to Skip

The schema markup types worth adding in 2026 are the ones that describe what a page really is and that Google still lists in its search gallery. That means Organization on the home page, Article on editorial pages, Product on product pages, LocalBusiness for physical locations and BreadcrumbList across the site. Add Video, Event, Recipe, Software app or Job posting where they fit. Skip FAQPage and HowTo if a rich result is the goal: Google removed HowTo rich results in 2023, and FAQ rich results stopped appearing in Search on 7 May 2026, as its FAQPage documentation records.

The rest of this post covers what each type can earn, which types Google has retired, and how to test markup before it ships.

Key takeaways

• The schema types to add first are Organization on the home page, Article on editorial pages, Product on product pages, LocalBusiness for physical locations and BreadcrumbList across the site.
• Schema markup makes a page eligible for a rich result without guaranteeing one, and it must describe content readers can see, per Google's structured data guidelines.
• FAQPage and HowTo markup no longer earn Google rich results: HowTo was removed in 2023 and FAQ results stopped on 7 May 2026, per the FAQPage documentation.
• Google's AI features guidance says no special schema.org structured data is needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

What schema markup does, and what it does not

Schema markup is structured data, written in the schema.org vocabulary, that tells search engines what a page contains: a product with a price, an article with an author and a date, a business with an address. Google recommends JSON-LD when your setup allows it, and can read JSON-LD that JavaScript injects into the page, per its introduction to structured data.

Three limits come from Google's structured data guidelines. Markup makes a page eligible for a rich result, but Google "does not guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results." Markup must describe content readers can see: "Don't mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page." And misleading markup can lead to a manual action that removes the page's eligibility for rich results.

Structured data is also not a ticket into AI answers. Google's AI features guidance says "There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add" to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, while listing structured data that matches the visible text as a best practice. For how answer engines differ from classic search, see AEO vs GEO vs SEO.

Match the schema type to the page type

Start from what the page is, not from which rich result looks appealing. A product category page is not a Product, and a blog post is not an Organization.

Types to add first

Organization

Add Organization markup once, on the home page or a single about page. Google says you do not need it on every page and that it has no required properties, per its Organization documentation. The useful properties are name, url, logo and sameAs links to your profiles elsewhere, plus address and contactPoint if you have them. The same page says a logo must be at least 112x112 pixels, crawlable and in a supported image format.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Example Co",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/example-co",
    "https://github.com/example-co"
  ]
}
</script>

Article

Article markup has no required properties either. Google's Article documentation recommends headline, image, datePublished and dateModified with time zone information, and author as a Person or Organization with a url or sameAs. List every author shown on the page, each in a separate entry, and keep author.name to the name alone, without job titles or the publisher's name.

BreadcrumbList

A breadcrumb list needs at least two ListItem entries, each with a position, per Google's breadcrumb documentation. Google recommends breadcrumbs that follow a typical user path to the page rather than copying the URL structure.

Product

Product markup comes in two forms, explained in Google's Product documentation. Pages where people can buy get merchant listing markup, with offers, shipping and return details. Review and editorial pages that do not sell get product snippet markup, with ratings and pros and cons. Adding the merchant listing properties can also make a page eligible for product snippets.

LocalBusiness

For a physical location, LocalBusiness markup requires name and a full address, with geo, openingHoursSpecification, telephone and url recommended, according to Google's LocalBusiness documentation. The schema.org LocalBusiness type has more specific subtypes, such as Dentist and Restaurant, when one fits.

If you would rather not write these by hand, XeoRank's free schema markup generator builds Organization, LocalBusiness, Product and Article JSON-LD that you can paste into a page.

Review markup and the self-serving rule

Star ratings come from Review or AggregateRating markup on types Google supports for review snippets, including Product, Recipe, Software App, Book, Event, Movie and Local business. One restriction catches out business sites: if a business controls the reviews about itself, its pages that use LocalBusiness or any other Organization markup are ineligible for star review snippets, even when the reviews come through an embedded third-party widget, per Google's review snippet guidelines. Reviews of your own company on your own site will not earn stars.

Types to skip or deprioritize

FAQPage

Google limited FAQ rich results to well-known government and health sites in August 2023, and its FAQPage documentation records that the feature stopped appearing in Google Search on 7 May 2026. FAQPage is still part of the schema.org vocabulary, so existing markup that matches visible questions and answers can stay, but it no longer earns a Google rich result. Put the effort into a clear, direct answer under each question heading, which readers see whether or not any markup exists.

HowTo

HowTo rich results no longer appear in Google Search, and Google deprecated the feature in September 2023, per its announcement. Step-by-step content still works well as a numbered list under clear headings, without the markup.

Features Google retired in 2025

In June 2025 Google stopped supporting seven structured data features in Search: Book Actions, Course Info, Claim Review, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement and Vehicle Listing, as it announced in Simplifying the search results page. If your templates still output these, they no longer earn a Google Search feature, so remove them when you next touch the template unless another platform you care about reads them.

How to add and test schema markup

1. Write JSON-LD in a script block with type="application/ld+json". Google can read it when JavaScript injects it, per its introduction to structured data, though server-rendered markup is simpler to debug.
2. Fill every required property for the feature, and as many recommended properties as are true for the page. Google's guidelines say more recommended properties make a higher quality result.
3. Test with Google's Rich Results Test to see which features the page is eligible for, and with the Schema Markup Validator for general schema.org validity.
4. After launch, watch the rich result reports in Search Console. Templates change and markup breaks, which is why Google's introduction recommends checking them after deployment.

Common schema mistakes

• Marking up content readers cannot see, such as questions or reviews that appear nowhere on the page, which Google's guidelines prohibit
• Prices, availability or dates in the markup that disagree with the page
• Several plugins each printing their own Organization or Article block with different values
• A dateModified that changes on every deploy even when the content did not
• Review stars for your own business on your own site

Each of these is easy to introduce and hard to notice, because the page looks fine to a visitor. A XeoRank account crawls whole sites, and on WordPress its AI agent can fix schema, titles and descriptions; your AI assistant asks before each tool call, and WordPress writes are off for a site until you turn them on. If you maintain the markup in code, the technical SEO checklist for developers shows how to render JSON-LD in a Next.js page.

The rule that covers every type

Mark up what is on the page, accurately, with a type Google still supports for the feature you want. Check the search gallery before you build anything new, because the list changes: features are added, limited and retired, and the gallery shows what Google supports today.