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Use Schema.org structured data and Open Graph together, not as alternatives: structured data can describe a page’s entities and their relationships, while Open Graph supplies the basic information used to represent a page in social sharing previews. Add both through page templates, but populate them with details that match each page’s actual content.
What each layer does
Schema.org is a vocabulary for describing things represented on a page—such as an article, product, event, person, or organization—and how they relate. Google supports structured data in JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa. It generally recommends JSON-LD when a site’s setup permits it because the markup is easier to implement and maintain at scale. Google Search Central’s structured data introduction explains supported formats and search feature requirements.
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Open Graph is a protocol for representing a web page as an object in a social graph and shaping its shared preview. Its four required basic properties are og:title, og:type, og:image, and og:url. The protocol defines og:url as the canonical URL that serves as the object’s permanent graph identifier. The Open Graph protocol documentation lists these properties and optional additions.
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Plan markup around page templates
Start with the site’s page families rather than applying one generic block of markup everywhere. A home page, article, product detail, event listing, and creator profile communicate different information; their structured data and social previews should reflect those differences.
- List templates: Identify the page types your site actually publishes, such as home, article, product, event, and author or profile pages.
- Map page facts: For each template, record which entities and properties are genuinely visible or otherwise supported by that page.
- Identify consumers: Decide whether a given field is intended for Google search, social sharing, or both. Schema.org is a vocabulary, not a universal switch for Google features; consult Google’s feature-specific documentation for eligibility and Schema.org’s definitions for vocabulary meaning. See Google Search Central and Schema.org’s how-we-work documentation.
A template can provide consistent field names and output, but page-specific values should come from the page’s own content. Reusing one title, image, canonical URL, or entity description across unrelated pages produces metadata that misrepresents them.
Implement Open Graph metadata
For each page intended to be shared, output the four basic Open Graph properties in the page’s metadata. Use a title and image that represent that page, choose an og:type appropriate to the object, and set og:url to its intended canonical URL. Optional properties—including og:description, og:locale, og:locale:alternate, and og:site_name—can add useful context when they are accurate.
Canonical URL handling matters because Open Graph treats og:url as the object’s permanent identifier. Ensure it points to the preferred URL for that page, rather than an incidental query-string variant or a different page. The Open Graph protocol documents the core and optional properties at ogp.me.
Choose a structured-data format
Google supports JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa, provided the markup is valid and meets the rules for the targeted search feature. For most sites whose CMS and rendering setup allow it, JSON-LD is a practical default: it keeps structured data separate from visible HTML text and is easier to maintain across templates. Google’s recommendation is conditional, not a claim that other supported formats are invalid. Google’s format guidance describes the supported options.
Whichever format you use, prefer accurate, complete properties over adding recommended fields with guessed or inaccurate values. Structured data provides explicit clues about page meaning; valid markup does not guarantee a rich result or any particular search presentation. Google’s eligibility depends on required properties and both general and feature-specific guidelines.
Represent creator profiles and identity links accurately
For a creator profile page, Google’s ProfilePage documentation requires the page’s primary focus to be a single affiliated person or organization. Its documented pattern uses ProfilePage with mainEntity set to a Person or Organization. Do not apply this profile pattern to a generic storefront or a page that is not principally about an affiliated person or organization.
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Validate before and after deployment
- During development: Run representative pages from each template through Google’s Rich Results Test. Check syntax and the required properties for the specific feature you are targeting.
- Review the rendered page: Confirm that output values match the visible content and that page-specific URLs, images, titles, and entities have not been replaced by template-wide defaults.
- After deployment: Monitor the relevant rich-result status reports in Search Console. Template, rendering, or serving changes can introduce issues that were not present in the development version.
A valid implementation can make a page eligible for a rich result, but Google’s systems determine whether and how it appears. Google’s structured-data introduction explains both eligibility and validation: Structured data guidelines.
Maintain the vocabulary over time
Schema.org recommends using its latest release for general publishing and simple, non-versioned identifiers such as https://schema.org/Place. Dated snapshots are available when a project needs to refer to a precise vocabulary version. For long-lived implementations, review Schema.org’s release information as part of maintenance; its guidance is at How we work and its developer resources at Schema.org for developers.
Social platforms may apply their own preview rules beyond the Open Graph basics. The protocol defines the metadata properties, but it does not establish current behavior or card requirements for every platform. Check the relevant platform’s official documentation when platform-specific appearance is important.
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