An SEO glossary of terms every marketer should know in 2026
A practical, current glossary covering the essential SEO terminology every marketer should be comfortable with, from foundational concepts to 2026-specific terms.
6 min read
Schema markup is a standardised vocabulary, maintained at schema.org, that lets you describe the specific facts on your page — a product's price, a recipe's cooking time, a business's opening hours — in a structured format search engines and AI systems can parse reliably, rather than having to infer meaning from unstructured text.
Why structured facts matter more than ever
Beyond enabling rich results in traditional search (star ratings, price ranges, FAQ dropdowns), structured data has become increasingly important for how AI-powered answer engines extract and cite information reliably — a topic covered in depth in our structured data for AI answers guide.
- Enables rich results (stars, prices, FAQs) directly in traditional search listings.
- Gives AI answer engines a reliable, structured source of specific facts to cite.
- Helps disambiguate entities — confirming exactly who or what a page is about.
The schema types most businesses should prioritise
Organization schema establishes your business's core identity and details. LocalBusiness schema (for physical locations) adds address, hours and geographic detail. Product and Service schema describe what you sell. FAQPage schema structures common questions and answers. Review and AggregateRating schema, used honestly, surfaces star ratings.
- Organization: core business identity, logo, social profiles.
- LocalBusiness: address, hours, geographic and contact detail for physical locations.
- Product or Service: what you sell, pricing, availability.
- FAQPage: structured question and answer content.
- Article or BlogPosting: for content and blog pages, as used throughout this site.
Most businesses do not need exotic schema types — Organization, LocalBusiness and FAQPage, implemented correctly, cover the overwhelming majority of practical value available.
Implementation methods
JSON-LD, placed in the page's head or body as a script tag, is Google's recommended format — it is easier to implement and maintain correctly than the older microdata or RDFa formats, and does not require marking up visible page elements directly.
Testing your implementation
Google's Rich Results Test checks whether your structured data is valid and eligible for rich results, and Search Console's Enhancements reports track structured data errors across your whole site over time. Never mark up information that is not genuinely visible and accurate on the page — this violates Google's structured data guidelines directly.
Frequently asked questions
Does schema markup directly improve rankings?
Not typically as a direct ranking factor on its own, but it can improve click-through rate through rich results, and it helps search engines and AI systems understand your content's specific facts more reliably.
Can I add schema for information not visible on the page?
No — Google's structured data guidelines require that marked-up information genuinely matches what is visible and accurate on the actual page, and misuse can result in a manual action against rich result eligibility.
How do I know which schema type applies to my content?
Schema.org's own type hierarchy documentation lists all available types, and Google's structured data documentation specifically covers which types are eligible for rich results in search.
If you want help implementing schema markup correctly across your site, talk to our team.
The takeaway
Implement Organization and, where relevant, Product, Service, FAQPage or LocalBusiness schema before anything more exotic — these cover the vast majority of practical business value.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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