Schema and Rich Snippets

Implementing structured data, or schema markup, is designed to help search engines understand your website’s content and potentially earning rich snippets in search results. The table below provides a concise guide to the recommended schema types for common page types, like your homepage, blog posts, About Us, Contact, Service, Author, and Location pages. By correctly applying these schema types and ensuring they link together appropriately, you can significantly improve your site’s visibility and clarity for search engines like Google. This structured approach provides part of your technical SEO strategy.

Common Page Schemas and Types (Summary)

Homepage Schema (Single Location)

Types of schema used – WebPage, WebSite, LocalBusiness (or Organization), BreadcrumbList

Use LocalBusiness if you have a single physical location that is central to the business. If primarily online, or if you prefer to emphasize the overall organization, Organization is also acceptable.

Homepage Schema (Multi-Location)

Types of schema used – WebPage, WebSite, Organization, BreadcrumbList

Use Organization to represent the overall brand. LocalBusiness should only be used on individual location pages.

Blog Post Page Schema

Types of schema used – WebPage, BlogPosting (or Article), BreadcrumbList

BlogPosting is preferred over Article. The author property within BlogPosting should reference a separate Person schema (ideally on an author profile page). The publisher property should reference the Organization schema.

About Us Schema (Organization Focused)

Types of schema used – WebPage, Organization, BreadcrumbList, Person (optional, for featured individuals)

The primary focus is the Organization. Person schemas can be included for key team members, but they are secondary and should be linked via employee (or similar) within the Organization.

About Us Schema (Person Focus)

Types of schema used – WebPage, Person, BreadcrumbList, Organization (optional)

The primary focus is the Person. Organization is optional, linked via worksFor within the Person schema if the person is affiliated with an organization.

Contact Page Schema (Single Location)

Types of schema used – WebPage, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList, ContactPage (optional)

ContactPage is a valid subtype, but not as important as correctly structuring Local Business.

Contact Page Schema (Multi-Location – General Contact)

Types of schema used – WebPage, Organization, BreadcrumbList, ContactPage (optional)

This is for a general contact page listing contact info for multiple locations or a central contact point. LocalBusiness schema should not be on this general page; it belongs on the individual location pages.

Contact Page Schema (Multi-Location, per location)

Types of schema used – WebPage, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList, ContactPage

Service Page Schema

Types of schema used – WebPage, Service, BreadcrumbList, Offer (if pricing is shown)

The Service schema describes the specific service. The provider property within Service should reference either the Organization (for services offered generally) or the LocalBusiness (for services offered at a specific location).

Author Page Schema (Dedicated Profile Page)

Types of schema used – WebPage, Person, BreadcrumbList

This is for a page dedicated to a specific author, with biographical information, etc. The primary schema is Person. This is different from an author archive page.

Author Archive Page Schema (e.g., WordPress /author/...)

Types of schema used – WebPage (or CollectionPage), BreadcrumbList

This page lists posts by an author. It is not primarily a profile of the author. Therefore, Person schema is not the primary focus here. You do however need to link the Person schema.

Location Page Schema (Multi-Location)

Types of schema used – WebPage, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList

Each location should have its own dedicated page, with LocalBusiness schema specific to that location. This is essential for multi-location businesses.

Product Page Schema

Types of schema used – WebPage, Product, BreadcrumbList, Offer

If you have product reviews, you can also add aggregateRating, and Review. Offer is essential for providing price and availability information.

FAQ Page Schema

Types of schema used – WebPage, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList

Key Principles (Reinforced)

• mainEntity: Each WebPage should have its mainEntity property correctly pointing to the primary schema type for that page (e.g., BlogPosting for a blog post, Product for a product page, Person for an “About” page focused on a person, Organization or LocalBusiness as appropriate).
• Referencing, Not Embedding: Person and Organization (or LocalBusiness) schemas should be defined once and then referenced from other schema types using their @id values, not fully embedded within every other schema.
• Specificity: Use the most specific schema type that accurately describes the content (e.g., BlogPosting instead of Article, ContactPage instead of just WebPage).
• Consistency: Use consistent naming conventions, URLs, and schema structures across your site.
• Validation: Always use the Google Rich Results Test to validate your schema after making changes.

This comprehensive, generic table and the explanations should provide a clear roadmap for implementing schema on any website, regardless of the specific CMS or schema plugin used. The key is understanding the relationships between the different schema types and using the correct properties (mainEntity, publisher, author, worksFor, provider, isPartOf) to link them together.

By strategically using these schema types, and linking them correctly, you provide a rich, interconnected set of data to search engines, greatly improving their understanding of your website’s content and structure.