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SEO guide 04 / Technical

Denver Schema Markup and Structured Data Guide

Structured data is a machine-readable summary of what a page already says. Done right it removes guesswork for Google. Done wrong it is one of the few technical mistakes that can earn a manual action.

JSON-LDLocalBusinessBreadcrumbListRich Results Test

Schema markup uses the vocabulary at schema.org to describe things on a page: the business, its address, the page's place in the site, an article's author. For a Denver business site it is a small amount of code with a clear payoff, as long as it describes what is really on the page. This guide covers which types fit, how to write and test JSON-LD, and where the line sits between helpful and spammy.

What Structured Data Does and Does Not Do

Google reads structured data to understand entities and relationships, and to decide whether a page is eligible for certain search features. The key word is eligible. Valid markup is a requirement for rich results, not a promise of them, and Google has narrowed several features over time. FAQ rich results, for example, have been limited since 2023 to well-known government and health websites, and HowTo rich results were retired.

Common types for a local business site
TypeWhere it goesWhat it can support
Organization or LocalBusinessHome page, or the contact pageBusiness details, logo, knowledge panel understanding
BreadcrumbListEvery page below the home pageBreadcrumb trail in place of the raw URL in results
WebSiteHome pageSite name shown in results
Article or BlogPostingBlog and news postsHeadline, dates and author understanding
Product, Event, RecipeOnly where the page truly is oneType-specific rich results

Type explorer

Five Schema Types, Up Close

Hover or tap a panel. Each one shows what the type is for and the property people most often get wrong.

LocalBusiness

Use the most specific subtype that fits, such as Plumber, Dentist or Restaurant. Name, address and phone must match what the page and your Google Business Profile show.

Often wrong: areaServed listing every city in the metro, or an address you do not actually operate from.

Organization

For businesses without a public storefront, or as the parent of several locations. Logo and sameAs links to official profiles help Google connect the entity.

Often wrong: sameAs pointing at directory listings instead of profiles the business controls.

BreadcrumbList

Mirrors the visible breadcrumb trail. Each item has a position, name and URL, and the order should follow the real site hierarchy.

Often wrong: itemListElement URLs that redirect or differ from the canonical.

Article

Headline, author, publish and modified dates for editorial content. Dates should match the visible dates on the page.

Often wrong: dateModified updated on every deploy when the text did not change.

Service

Describes a service you offer, its type and the area served. Useful for clarity even though it has no dedicated rich result.

Often wrong: offers with prices that are not shown on the page.

Build a LocalBusiness Snippet

Fill in what is true for your business and leave the rest blank. Anything you include must also be visible on the page where the markup lives. The output updates as you type; copy it into the page's <head> or just before </body>.

JSON-LD builderLocalBusiness

  





Testing: Two Tools, Two Questions


Google's Rich Results Test answers "is this page eligible for a Google rich result, and are there errors?" The Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org answers "is this valid schema.org, whatever Google does with it?" Run both after any template change. After launch, Search Console shows enhancement reports for supported types, with errors and warnings across the whole site.



Where Markup Becomes Spam


Google's structured data guidelines require that markup describe the main content of the page and match what users can see. Breaking that rule can lead to a manual action for spammy structured markup, which removes rich result eligibility for the site until it is fixed and a reconsideration request is approved.



  
If you add review stars for your own businessRemove them. Self-serving reviews on LocalBusiness and Organization are not eligible.

  
If markup lists services the page never mentionsEither add them to the visible content or drop them from the markup.

  
If a plugin adds markup you did not chooseCheck its output. Duplicate Organization blocks with different names confuse more than they help.

  
If you hide content from users but keep it in markupThat is the clearest violation. Markup must reflect visible content.





Schema Markup FAQ


01Will schema markup improve my rankings?
Not directly. Structured data helps Google understand a page and can make it eligible for rich results, which may change how the listing looks. It does not lift a page that is weak on relevance, and Google does not guarantee rich results even for valid markup.
02Can I mark up my Google reviews with star ratings?
Google does not show review stars for a LocalBusiness or Organization when the reviews are about the business itself and published on its own site. Marking up reviews copied from another platform is also against the guidelines. Leave star markup off the home page.
03JSON-LD, Microdata or RDFa?
Google supports all three and recommends JSON-LD because it sits in one script block, separate from the visible HTML, and is the easiest to maintain without breaking the page.


Keep going
Related Denver GEO and SEO Guides
Two tracks, one goal: be the business AI answers name, then the page Google ranks. Each guide links across both.
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