Structured data: what Google uses and how to validate it

Structured data is a block of code on the page that describes the content in a standard format, such as "this is a product, with this price and this average rating". The most widely used vocabulary is schema.org. Google uses some of these types to show rich results, such as breadcrumbs, prices and review stars, and only the types listed in Google's search gallery have that effect. The markup doesn't guarantee a rich result and doesn't improve ranking. There are two validation tools with different roles: Google's Rich Results Test checks eligibility on Google; schema.org's Schema Markup Validator checks the markup against the vocabulary.

Scope: Google Search, based on the Google Search Central documentation consulted in October 2026. Other search engines and services use schema.org with their own rules. The markup only has an effect on pages Google can crawl and index; that part is covered in the guide to crawling and indexing.

Formats: JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa

Google accepts three formats. JSON-LD is a <script type="application/ld+json"> block separate from the visible HTML. Microdata and RDFa are attributes placed on the HTML tags themselves (itemprop, property). Google says all three work equally well when the markup is valid, and recommends JSON-LD when the site's setup allows it (Google, introduction to structured data).

One practical reason to prefer JSON-LD, which is opinion and not a Google rule: since it sits in a single block, a layout change won't break the markup by accident. An example for a blog post:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "Post title",
  "datePublished": "2026-10-26T09:00:00-03:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-26T09:00:00-03:00",
  "author": [{
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Author name",
    "url": "https://www.example.com/authors/author-name"
  }],
  "image": ["https://www.example.com/images/cover-16x9.jpg"]
}
</script>

Valid on schema.org is not the same as eligible on Google

schema.org is an open vocabulary, with types for people, places, products, events and much more, and it doesn't require any property. Google uses a fraction of these types and sets its own rules for each one: required properties, recommended properties and content guidelines. Google's documentation asks you to treat Search Central, not schema.org, as the reference for behavior on Google, and says it's better to have fewer recommended properties that are complete and accurate than many. For AI features in Search, Google says there is no special markup or dedicated file for AI, which includes llms.txt (Google Search Central).

That's why markup can be perfect for schema.org and produce nothing on Google: the type isn't in the gallery, or a property Google requires is missing. As of October 2026, Google's search gallery lists 25 features: article, breadcrumb, carousel, course list, dataset, discussion forum, education Q&A, employer aggregate rating, event, image metadata, job posting, local business, math solver, movie, organization, product, profile page, Q&A, recipe, review snippet, software app, speakable, subscription and paywalled content, vacation rental and video. Since November 2025, dataset markup (Dataset) is used only in Dataset Search, not in Google Search (Google Search Central documentation updates).

The sources for the table are the Rich Results Test help page and the Schema Markup Validator announcement, published by schema.org in 2021.

Passing Google's test doesn't guarantee display. The general guidelines say Google doesn't guarantee that structured data will show up in results, even when the test reports no errors. On ranking, Google's John Mueller wrote in April 2025: "Structured data won't make your site rank better" (Bluesky post).

What Google stopped showing

The list of supported types has shrunk since 2023. Many sites still have markup in their code that no longer produces anything on Google. The dates below come from the Google Search Central documentation updates and the June 2025 announcement.

In the June 2025 announcement, Google stated that the change doesn't affect page rankings and that use of these types outside Google Search is not affected. In practice, removing old markup isn't urgent and keeping it brings no gain on Google; if another service you use reads that markup, it may still serve a purpose. Questions and answers visible on the page are still content like any other. What ended was the special display in Google's results.

The most common types on business and store sites

Article

For news and posts (Article, NewsArticle and BlogPosting), no property is required. The recommended ones are author (with name and url), datePublished, dateModified, headline and image. Dates go in ISO 8601 with a time zone; without one, Google uses Googlebot's. author.name takes only the name, without job title or honorific, and each author is a separate entry. Images must be crawlable, represent the article (the logo doesn't count) and have at least 50,000 pixels (width times height), preferably in the 16x9, 4x3 and 1x1 aspect ratios (Google, article structured data).

Organization

It helps Google understand the organization's administrative details and tell it apart from others with similar names. Some properties influence what appears in search, such as the logo and the knowledge panel. No property is required; Google suggests filling in the ones that apply, such as name, url, logo, address and telephone. The logo must be at least 112x112 pixels. Use the most specific subtype, such as OnlineStore for an online store or a LocalBusiness subtype for a business with a physical address (Google, organization structured data).

BreadcrumbList

Breadcrumbs need a BreadcrumbList with at least two ListItem entries, each with position, name and item (the URL). On the last item, item is optional, and Google uses the URL of the page itself. The feature appears only on desktop (Google, breadcrumb structured data).

Product and Offer

Google separates two uses (Google, product structured data):

• Product snippet, for pages where you can't buy directly, such as editorial reviews. It requires name and one of these: review, aggregateRating or offers. In the Offer, price is required; priceCurrency is recommended (Google, product snippet).

• Merchant listing, for pages where the customer buys from you. It requires name, image and offers, with price and priceCurrency. The price must be greater than zero, and the type must be Offer, not AggregateOffer, because the seller has to be the merchant itself (Google, merchant listing).

Google recommends using the markup together with a Merchant Center feed, which widens eligibility for these features.

Reviews (review snippet)

Stars in results have the strictest rules. The main one concerns self-serving reviews: if the entity being reviewed controls the reviews about itself, pages with LocalBusiness or another Organization type are not eligible for stars. This includes reviews shown on the site itself through a third-party widget. The rule targets a business's rating of itself; a review of a specific product follows the general rules (Google, review snippet). The other rules on the same page:

• The review must be of a specific item, not of a category or a list of items.

• Reviews or ratings from other sites must not be aggregated.

• For local businesses, ratings must come directly from users.

• If you mark up several individual reviews, also include their aggregate rating.

• The review content must be visible on the marked-up page.

• Fake reviews, or incentivized reviews without disclosure, are prohibited.

• Google recommends accepting only reviews that include a comment and the author's name.

Common mistakes

The items below follow Google's general structured data guidelines, unless noted.

• Marking up content the visitor can't see. The markup has to represent what is on the page.

• Leaving price, availability or date different from what the page shows. Google doesn't show rich results for time-sensitive content that has expired.

• Missing a required property. The item becomes ineligible.

• Blocking the page with robots.txt, noindex or another access control.

• Marking up self-serving reviews on Organization or LocalBusiness (a review snippet rule).

• Validating only in the Schema Markup Validator and concluding that Google will show the result. That validator doesn't know Google's requirements.

• Continuing to invest in types that left the gallery, such as FAQ and HowTo, expecting an effect on Google.

• Publishing and not monitoring. A template change can break the markup on many pages at once; the Search Console reports show this.

How to validate, step by step

1. Check in the gallery whether the type produces rich results on Google, and read the feature's page, with the required and recommended properties.

2. Run the Rich Results Test with the URL or with the code. Fix the errors; the warnings point to missing recommended properties.

3. If the type isn't in the gallery, or to check the vocabulary, use the Schema Markup Validator.

4. Compare the values in the markup with what appears on the page: price, rating, date, author.

5. After publishing, use URL Inspection to see whether Google found the markup, and follow the rich result reports in Search Console.

How to check your site

WebVyze's structured data validator is one of the free tools and helps with a first read of a page's markup. To know whether a page is eligible for rich results on Google, the reference is still Google's own test.