Schema Markup Validator

What is the Schema Markup Validator?

The Schema Markup Validator is a free tool that reads the JSON-LD structured data on a page, or code you paste, and checks it. It reports JSON that does not parse, a missing @context or @type, the properties Google requires for each rich result type, dates that are not ISO 8601 and image or URL fields that are relative.

How to use the Schema Markup Validator

1. Paste a page URL, or paste JSON-LD (the bare JSON or the whole script tag) to test markup before it goes live.
2. Press Validate schema.
3. Read the totals: how many blocks and entities were found, and how many have errors or warnings.
4. Open each entity card. Errors stop a rich result; warnings are recommended properties that make it more complete.

How do I check if my schema markup is valid?

Check it at two levels. First the syntax: the JSON has to parse, and every entity needs @context set to schema.org and an @type. A single trailing comma breaks the whole block, and search engines ignore a block that does not parse. Second the content: each type Google turns into a rich result has required properties, such as name and one of offers, review or aggregateRating for a Product.

This validator does both, for every block on the page at once. For the final word on whether Google will show a rich result, also run the page through Google's Rich Results Test, which knows the eligibility rules that depend on your site.

Does schema markup help AI search and answer engines?

It helps machines read facts without guessing. A price in an Offer, an author in a Person and a date in datePublished are unambiguous, where the same facts in a paragraph have to be inferred. Google uses structured data for rich results and its Knowledge Graph, and Bing has said it uses schema to understand content for Copilot.

What schema does not do is make a weak page citable. Answer engines quote the visible text, so the markup should describe content that is actually on the page, which Google's guidelines require anyway.

Why is my FAQ schema not showing in Google?

Since August 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results only for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For every other site, valid FAQPage markup is still read and understood, but it no longer earns the expandable questions in results. HowTo rich results were retired entirely in September 2023. The validator notes both when it finds them, so you are not debugging markup that is already correct.

How is this different from validator.schema.org?

The schema.org validator checks markup against the whole schema.org vocabulary: it flags types and properties that do not exist, but it does not know which properties Google needs for a rich result. This tool works the other way round. It checks around 18 common types, including Product, Article, Event, Recipe, JobPosting, LocalBusiness and BreadcrumbList, against the properties Google documents as required, and adds checks for ISO 8601 dates and relative URLs. It does not flag misspelled or unknown property names, so run validator.schema.org as well when a property seems to be ignored.