Schema.org in practice: marking up services, case studies and articles

Structured data helps machines understand what's on a page. But it doesn't replace visible text and doesn't guarantee a rich snippet. The main rule: only mark up what the user can actually see on the page and verify.

Organisation and site

• The real name, site URL, logo, verified contact details.

• LocalBusiness — only with a physical address someone can genuinely visit. Without one, Organization or ProfessionalService is more accurate.

• Don't add ratings and reviews that aren't on the page. That's a direct violation of the guidelines and grounds for a penalty.

Service pages

The Service type, naming the provider and the area served. The description in the markup must match the text on the page. Offer only makes sense if a price is genuinely published — there's no need to invent a fixed price just to fill the field.

Articles

Headline, author, publisher, publication and modification dates, main image. The author can be a person or an organisation. dateModified is updated on a substantive content edit, not on every rebuild of the site.

Case studies — a particular difficulty

Schema.org has no "marketing case study" type that would prove a result. The practical option is to describe a case as an Article or CreativeWork linked to the organisation and the breadcrumbs. If the case contains numbers, they must be in the visible text with the period stated — markup is not the place for claims that aren't on the page.

Breadcrumbs

Built from the site's real hierarchy, with absolute canonical URLs and labels matching the visible ones. Filters and parameters don't belong in breadcrumbs.

How to verify

1. Valid JSON-LD — the syntax.

2. Whether the type is supported by the search engine — through the Rich Results Test.

3. Whether the values match the page's visible content.

4. Check the final rendered HTML, not an individual component in the code.

On our own site the markup is built in during development — every service page emits Service, FAQPage and breadcrumbs. If you need the same set up on your project, get in touch.