Schema Markup: Structured Data Google Still Evaluates
Schema markup is often sold as if every annotation earned an enhanced search result. In reality, Google only evaluates a limited list of types – and that list has shrunk in recent years. The module marks up your pages so that every type either has a possible rich result or is honestly kept as pure machine description.
Machine-readable code that doesn’t always become visible
Schema markup is machine-readable code in your page’s source, usually as JSON-LD following the schema.org vocabulary. It tells search engines what’s on the page: a product with a price, a business with an address, a breadcrumb with hierarchy. Google uses some of these types for rich results – search results with extra elements like product data, dates or review stars.
The catch: schema.org defines hundreds of types. Google’s list of supported features currently includes a good two dozen (as of June 2026). Everything else is valid but has no effect on how you appear in search. And structured data isn’t a ranking factor anyway.
The list of rich results is shrinking – not everyone notices
Some of what was sold as a search-result feature a few years ago no longer exists at all. Those who don’t keep track sell or expect services that are gone.
HowTo rich results discontinued
Google switched the feature off in August 2023 and deleted its documentation.
FAQ rich results switched off
Since 7 May 2026, Google no longer shows any FAQ rich results – including report and test support.
Selling the past
Anyone still offering you FAQ snippets as a service today is selling a feature that no longer exists.
Manual action risk
Marking up what isn’t visible on the page – reviews, prices, opening hours – violates Google’s structured-data guidelines and risks a manual action.
“I manage around 15 client projects in parallel, and the most common schema question is the same everywhere: where did the stars go? The answer is rarely an error on the page – usually Google simply switched the feature off.”
— Viktor Pásztor, SEO freelancerSeven steps in every run – always ending with your approval
Check the page type
Which rich result does Google even still support for this page? The basis is Google’s current documentation, not the state of 2019.
Assign the type
Fitting markup instead of scattergun annotation.
Keep it congruent
The markup only contains what’s visible on the page.
Link entities
Organization, Person and Breadcrumb get stable @id identifiers and are referenced instead of reinvented on every page.
Validate
With the Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator. There’s no “should be fine”.
Work through Search Console
Reported markup errors get fixed, not collected.
Approval
A change only goes live after you’ve approved it.
DIY / pro / agency / automated
| Criterion | Do it yourself | SEO pro (manual) | Agency | How I do it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checking what Google still supports per page type | only with your own research | yes, provided they follow the docs | varies by team | against Google’s current list, on every run |
| Congruence with the visible content | Generator templates tend to claim too much | checked by hand | often via template | mandatory check before every output |
| @id linking of entities | rarely clean | they can, it costs time | often duplicated instead of referenced | stable @id, referenced everywhere |
| Validation with both tests | often skipped | customary | spot checks | both tests, result documented |
| Search Console errors | are left sitting | on request | on a monthly rhythm | worked through continuously |
| Costs | €0, but your time | €100 per hour | from €1,000 per month | €99–399 per month, depending on module scope, plus credit usage as consumed |
Four commitments, no markup theatre
Whether and how much structured data improves your visibility depends on the page type and on Google itself – there is no ranking factor involved. What the module delivers is cleanliness:
No markup theatre
What can produce a feature gets marked up – the rest runs as machine description, not as a promise
No guideline risk
No stars without reviews, no prices that aren’t on the page
Clean entities
Google coherently recognises who’s behind the website – the same person, the same organisation on every page
Documented validation
Both tests, documented result, Search Console errors worked through
Plus the usual conditions: reply within 24h on weekdays, quarterly report, cancellable monthly. Content and access belong to you. There’s no ranking guarantee – nobody serious gives one.
Questions about schema markup
Does schema markup improve my ranking?
No. Structured data is a presentation and comprehension tool, not a ranking factor. It qualifies you for rich results – more visible space, provided Google still serves the feature for your page type.
Is FAQ markup still worth it?
Not as a Google feature anymore: since 7 May 2026, Google shows no FAQ rich results. I still output FAQPage because it remains valid and describes the page cleanly for machines – but I don’t sell it as a search-result feature. That applies to this page’s markup too.
Will I get review stars in the search results?
Only if real reviews are visibly on the page and the page type qualifies, for instance products. Reviews a page writes about itself aren’t evaluated by Google. No tool decides whether a review is genuine – that stays with you.
Which types are still worth it?
For service providers: Organization or LocalBusiness, Breadcrumb and ProfilePage for the person behind it. For online shops: Product with merchant-listing data, review snippet with real reviews, Breadcrumb and Video. All are on Google’s current list of supported features.
Back to the pillar
Structured data is a module of MCP SEO, my automated SEO support. Closely related: technical SEO keeps your pages crawlable, the On-Page module sorts titles and headings, the SEO Texts module delivers the visible content the markup is allowed to describe in the first place.
What that costs together is listed on the SEO costspage.
Request the module for your project
Want to know what rich results your pages can still yield? Write to me – reply within 24 hours on weekdays.
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