Quick answer: schema markup, also called structured data, is code that describes a page to search engines in a standard format. For most blogs, the types worth having are Article or BlogPosting, BreadcrumbList, and, for the right content, Recipe, Review or Video markup. Google limited FAQ rich results to well-known government and health sites in August 2023 and retired HowTo rich results the following month, so adding those types no longer brings visible extras for a typical blog. Structured data can make a page eligible for rich results, but Google says it never guarantees them, and it does not directly change rankings.
Schema markup has a reputation as a technical SEO trick that only developers understand. In practice, most WordPress bloggers already have some of it, because SEO plugins and many themes add it automatically. The real questions are which types matter now, which ones stopped paying off, and how to check that what your site outputs is accurate.
This guide answers those questions using Google’s own documentation. It fits the site-setup stage of our guide on how to start a blog that makes money, since structured data is usually configured once and then left alone.
What Structured Data Actually Does
Structured data is a standardized way of labeling information on a page. Instead of leaving a search engine to guess that a block of text is the author’s name or that a number is a cooking time, the markup states it directly using a shared vocabulary from schema.org.
Search engines use this information in two ways. It helps Google understand the page, and it can make the page eligible for rich results, which are search listings with extra features such as star ratings, recipe cook times, images or breadcrumb trails.
Eligibility is the key word. Google’s general structured data guidelines state that correct markup enables a feature but does not guarantee it will be shown. The search algorithm decides case by case whether a rich result, a plain text result or something else best serves the searcher.
Formats
Three formats are supported: JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa. JSON-LD is the recommended one, which places the markup in a script block instead of weaving it through the visible HTML. Nearly every modern WordPress plugin outputs JSON-LD.
What structured data does not do
Markup is not a ranking boost. The announcements Google has published about removing rich result types have repeatedly noted that the changes do not affect ranking. Structured data describes content; it does not make weak content stronger. The same principle runs through what Google Search Central says about AI content: quality and usefulness come first.
Markup also cannot substitute for visible content. Google’s guidelines say not to mark up information that readers cannot see on the page.
Types That Still Matter for Most Blogs
A handful of types cover the needs of the typical blog.
Article or BlogPosting
Google’s Article documentation says this markup can help Google show better title text, images and date information for an article. Article objects can use the schema.org types Article, NewsArticle or BlogPosting.
There are no required properties for Article markup, only recommended ones:
- headline, the title of the post
- image, ideally several high-resolution images in 16×9, 4×3 and 1×1 ratios
- datePublished and dateModified, in ISO 8601 format with a time zone
- author, with a name and a URL that identifies the author, such as an about page
The author best practices ask sites to list every author separately, to put only the name in the name field, without job titles or phrases such as “posted by”, and to use the Person type for people and Organization for companies.
BreadcrumbList
Breadcrumb markup describes where a page sits in the site’s hierarchy, such as Home, then Blogging, then the post. Google can show this trail in place of a raw URL. Many SEO plugins generate it automatically when breadcrumbs are enabled.
Recipe, Review and Video
These matter only when the content truly fits.
Food blogs benefit from Recipe markup, which supports cook times, ingredients and ratings. Recipe card plugins usually generate it.
Review snippet markup covers specific items such as products, books, recipes and software. Google’s review snippet rules say the review must be about a specific item rather than a category or list, the rating must be visible on the page, and reviews from other websites must not be aggregated into your own markup.
Video markup helps Google understand embedded videos, which matters for blogs that publish tutorials with their own video.
Types That Stopped Paying Off
Several types that were once popular with bloggers no longer produce visible results for most sites.
FAQ rich results
On August 8, 2023, Google announced that FAQ rich results from FAQPage markup would only be shown for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For other sites, the expanding question-and-answer listing no longer appears regularly.
The same post said there is no need to rush to remove existing FAQ markup. Unused structured data does not cause problems for Search; it simply has no visible effect. Keeping an FAQ section on the page is still worthwhile when it helps readers, since the section itself is ordinary content.
HowTo rich results
The same announcement limited HowTo rich results to desktop. An update on September 14, 2023 extended the change to desktop, which meant HowTo rich results were no longer shown at all, and Google described the type as deprecated.
The 2025 cleanup
On June 12, 2025, Google announced it would phase out several lesser-used structured data features in Search: Book Actions, Course Info, Claim Review, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement and Vehicle Listing. Google stated that the change would not affect rankings. Few blogs used these types, but the announcement shows that the list of supported features changes over time.
The practical lesson is to check Google’s current search gallery before adding a type, rather than relying on an older tutorial that promises a rich result.
How Schema Works in WordPress
Most bloggers never write markup by hand.
SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math and All in One SEO generate a structured data graph for each page, usually including the website, the organization or person behind it, the web page, the article and breadcrumbs. The settings that feed this graph matter more than the code: the site name, the logo, whether the site represents a person or an organization, and the author profiles.
Common settings worth reviewing:
- Site representation: choose person or organization and add the correct name and logo
- Author archives: keep them available if author URLs are used in markup, or point author URLs to an about page
- Default article type: Article or BlogPosting both work for a typical blog
- Breadcrumbs: enable them in the plugin and the theme if you want breadcrumb markup
Avoid duplicate markup
Problems often start when a theme, a recipe plugin and an SEO plugin all output their own Article or Recipe markup for the same page. Two conflicting descriptions can confuse validation tools. Most SEO plugins let you turn off overlapping schema from other sources, and many recipe plugins integrate with the main SEO plugin to avoid duplicates.
Hand-written markup
Occasionally a page needs something a plugin does not produce. Hand-written JSON-LD can be added with a code snippet plugin or a custom HTML block. Keep it short, match it exactly to visible content and test it before publishing.
How to Test and Monitor Markup
Free tools exist for checking structured data.
- Run a URL through the Rich Results Test to see which rich result types the page is eligible for and whether there are errors.
- Fix critical errors first. Google’s documentation describes non-critical warnings as optional improvements that are not necessary for eligibility.
- Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to confirm Google can access the page and that it is not blocked by robots.txt or a noindex tag.
- After Google recrawls, check the rich result reports under Enhancements in Search Console for valid and invalid items.
- Watch the Performance report’s search appearance filter to see clicks on any rich results.
The search appearance filter is the clearest way to tell whether markup is earning any visible benefit at all.
The Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org checks markup against the full schema.org vocabulary, including types Google does not use. It is useful for general correctness, while the Rich Results Test answers the narrower question of Google eligibility.
When to retest
The documentation recommends checking reports after deploying structured data for the first time, after releasing new templates or code, and periodically. For a blog, that means retesting after switching themes, changing SEO plugins or adding a recipe or review plugin.
Rules That Keep Markup Safe
The general structured data guidelines also include quality rules that automated tests cannot catch.
- Mark up only content visible on the page
- Keep markup a true representation of the page, not a label chosen for its rich result
- Do not mark up fake reviews or ratings that do not come from real users
- Keep time-sensitive information current
- Put the markup on the page it describes
Violations can lead to a structured data manual action. According to Google, a manual action of this kind removes the page’s eligibility for rich results but does not affect how it ranks in web search. The Manual Actions report in Search Console shows whether one has been applied.
Review markup and affiliate content
Bloggers who publish product reviews should be especially careful. The review snippet rules prohibit fake reviews and undisclosed incentivized reviews, such as reviews written in exchange for free products without a clear disclosure. Our article on affiliate disclosure for bloggers covers the disclosure side.
Stars on a roundup post are another common mistake. Review markup should describe a specific item, so a list of ten products does not qualify for a single star rating.
Images and Dates in Markup
Two details cause many avoidable issues.
Images in structured data must be crawlable and indexable, and they should represent the content. Google’s Article documentation recommends images of at least 50,000 pixels when width and height are multiplied. Good image habits help here, as explained in our guide to image SEO for bloggers.
Dates should reflect reality. Showing a new modified date without real changes misleads readers, so update dateModified only when the content itself has meaningfully changed. Google’s documentation on publication dates also asks that the date in markup match the date shown on the page.
A Simple Schema Checklist
Use this list when setting up a new blog or auditing an older one:
- One SEO plugin handles core markup, with overlapping schema from other plugins switched off
- Site name, logo and person or organization settings are filled in correctly
- Posts output Article or BlogPosting markup with headline, image, dates and author
- Breadcrumb markup matches visible breadcrumbs
- Recipe, review or video markup is used only where the content truly fits
- No FAQ or HowTo markup is added in the expectation of rich results on a typical blog
- A sample of URLs passes the Rich Results Test without critical errors
- Search Console enhancement reports are reviewed after major site changes
Frequently Asked Questions
Does schema markup improve Google rankings?
Google has not described structured data as a ranking factor, and its announcements about retiring rich result types state that those changes do not affect ranking. Markup helps Google understand a page and can make it eligible for rich results.
Should I remove FAQ schema from my blog?
Google has said there is no need to proactively remove it. Unused structured data does not cause problems, but it no longer shows FAQ rich results for most sites.
Do I need a separate schema plugin?
Usually not. Major WordPress SEO plugins already output Article, breadcrumb and site-level markup. A separate tool is mainly useful for specialized content, such as recipes.
Why is my valid markup not showing a rich result?
Google states that valid markup makes a page eligible but does not guarantee a rich result. The search algorithm decides which presentation suits each query, and markup that misrepresents content can also prevent display.
Which format should I use?
JSON-LD is the recommended format, and it is the one most WordPress plugins already use.Sources: Google Search Central, General structured data guidelines; Google Search Central, Article structured data; Google Search Central, Review snippet structured data; Google Search Central Blog, Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results; Google Search Central Blog, Simplifying the search results page; Google Rich Results Test; Schema Markup Validator.