What is Schema Markup?
Schema markup is a standardised vocabulary of data types (defined on schema.org) embedded in HTML - usually as JSON-LD in the `<head>`. It translates content into a machine-readable structure: a text becomes an `Article`, a list becomes a `FAQPage`, a person becomes a `Person` with job and employer.
Search engines use these annotations to display rich results: star ratings, FAQ accordions, breadcrumbs, event dates. AI answer systems use them to extract content precisely and attribute it correctly.
Without schema markup, a site is just text to machines - with schema, it becomes a queryable database.
Why does Schema Markup matter?
Schema is the critical translator between human-readable and machine-readable web. Without it you lose rich results, AI citations, and most of the semantic intelligence modern search depends on.
Schema Markup in practice
- 01A blog post with `Article` schema (datePublished, dateModified, author) shows up as a news card in Google.
- 02A FAQ section with `FAQPage` schema expands inline in search results.
- 03A service page with `Service` schema can appear in Google Knowledge Panels.
From the journal
- Address, opening hours, phone number: your website is the refereeGoogle and Apple change your opening hours when users report something and check the change against public sources, first of all your website. When your core details read differently in different places, it is not your profile that decides but what your own site says. How often customers run into wrong details, how a change gets into your profile, which places really count, what happens with holidays, a move or a new number, and how to set one source everyone believes.
- How often should you update your website? The calendar is the wrong answerGoogle answers the question in its own documentation, and the answer sits in brackets: "(No, it won't)". We measured when Google last fetched all 55 posts on this blog: a median of 28 days, a range of 5 to 62, and the three oldest posts were fetched sooner than the average. What an update actually triggers, and how to tell which page needs one.
- The FAQ page: what it is for now that Google no longer highlights itSince 7 May 2026 Google has shown no FAQ rich result at all, for anyone. If you built the page for that one feature, you now have a page without a purpose. At the same time, half of all customer service journeys no longer start on your own website but on Google, YouTube or ChatGPT. What that means for your answers, and how to write them so they hold up where you do not control the layout.
