Schema.org in 2026: the 12 types that matter after the May change

On May 7, 2026 Google silently added a note to the FAQPage documentation: FAQ rich results no longer appear in search results. No blog post, no announcement, no explanation. That note formally closed a complete era of SEO where adding FAQ schema was a safe shortcut to win space in the SERP. For whoever had been building a strategy around Google's expandable accordions, the change reorganizes the conversation.

The question that matters after the change is not whether to remove FAQPage from the site (the quick answer is no), but what to do with Schema.org in general in 2026. This article is the complete technical guide: the 12 schema types that really matter after the turn, copy-paste JSON-LD code for each one, Panamanian examples where they apply, correct validation and the honesty about the ranking factor that almost no article in Spanish or English is willing to assume.

The context: what changed in May and what it means

It is worth situating the change before the types. Google launched FAQ rich results in 2019, and for three years they were one of the most exploited SEO tools in the SERP: adding FAQPage schema to a page gave the site an expandable strip below the title with questions and answers taken from the markup, occupying up to five times more space on the results page than a normal link. The tactic worked so well that it was massively abused: sites added artificial FAQs just to occupy pixels in the SERP, with questions no one searched and answers written for Google, not for users.

Google's response came in two phases. In August 2023, it silently restricted FAQ rich results to "authoritative government and health sites" only. Most commercial sites lost the functionality that week without many noticing because they kept seeing the schema validated in Search Console, simply without the visible effect. In May 2026 Google closed the cycle: FAQ rich results disappear for everyone, the Search Console report is removed in June, the API support in August.

The important thing: Google explicitly confirms that the FAQPage schema can stay on the pages, causes no problems, and still helps to understand the content. For AEO it is still useful because ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini read the markup to extract answers. Only its role in the SERP changes: it stopped being a visual-space lever and became exclusively a structural signal. The other schema types were not affected by this change.

The technical honesty: schema is not a direct ranking factor

Before moving to the types, a clarification almost no provider in Spanish makes openly. John Mueller, Google's Search Advocate, has repeatedly confirmed in conferences and on X that Schema.org is not a direct algorithmic ranking factor. Implementing schema does not make your page rise in positions on Google mechanically.

What schema does do, according to evidence documented by independent studies and Google's own documentation: it increases the probability of appearing in rich snippets when they exist (rating stars, visible breadcrumbs, event dates, recipes with preparation time), it increases the probability of being cited by generative AI engines (recent studies document pages with schema being approximately 3 times more likely to be cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini compared to pages without schema), it makes it easier for Google to correctly understand your site's entities to build your presence in the Knowledge Graph, and it makes your content extractable for voice assistants and conversational engines.

The indirect effect on traffic is real and measurable: rich snippets increase CTR by up to 30% according to public measurements, AI citations bring qualified traffic from conversational platforms, and the presence in the Knowledge Graph generates brand traffic. But that effect is a consequence of better extraction and presentation, not of better algorithmic ranking. The distinction seems subtle and completely changes how it is best to position the investment in schema.

The 12 types that matter in 2026: prioritized by impact

Schema.org has hundreds of defined types but most sites only need between 5 and 8 of them well implemented. The twelve we cover here are prioritized by real impact: the first four are mandatory for practically any professional site, the following eight are contextual according to the type of business. Each one includes its role, what it does well, and minimal JSON-LD code ready to use as a base.

Type 1: Organization (the base of the whole implementation)

Organization is the base schema that declares what your site is as an entity. It must be present on all the site's pages, ideally in the global head. It is what Google and the AI engines use to resolve "who is this company" when they see any page of yours. Without Organization, the rest of the schema floats with no entity context.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "@id": "https://websitepanama.com/#organization",
  "name": "Website Panama",
  "url": "https://websitepanama.com",
  "logo": "https://websitepanama.com/logo.png",
  "description": "High-Performance web design agency in Panama",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "Panama City",
    "addressCountry": "PA"
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://linkedin.com/company/websitepanama",
    "https://x.com/websitepanama"
  ]
}

The sameAs field is critical and most implementations omit it. There you declare links to official profiles on other platforms (LinkedIn, X, Facebook, GitHub if applicable) that Google and the AI models use to verify that you are a real entity with consistent presence. The @id with a unique URL lets you reference this organization from other schemas on the site without duplicating data.

Type 2: LocalBusiness (if you have a physical presence)

LocalBusiness extends Organization for businesses with a physical location clients reach. It is critical for local SEO and for citations in AI engines when someone asks for services in a specific area. It includes mandatory fields for Google Maps that Organization does not have.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "@id": "https://myclinic.pa/#localbusiness",
  "name": "Costa del Este Dental Clinic",
  "image": "https://myclinic.pa/facade.jpg",
  "telephone": "+507-2345-6789",
  "priceRange": "$$",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Calle 50, Plaza Building, 3rd Floor",
    "addressLocality": "Panama City",
    "addressRegion": "Panama",
    "postalCode": "0801",
    "addressCountry": "PA"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 9.0192,
    "longitude": -79.4774
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [{
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
    "opens": "08:00",
    "closes": "17:00"
  }],
  "paymentAccepted": "Cash, Yappy, ACH, Credit card"
}

Note the Panamanian detail in paymentAccepted: including Yappy explicitly helps AI engines when someone searches "businesses that accept Yappy in Panama", a query that grows each year. The geo coordinates must be exact; tools like maps.google.com let you obtain them by right-clicking on the business's physical location.

Type 3: BreadcrumbList (navigation on each page)

BreadcrumbList declares the navigation path of each page within the site. Google uses it to show the breadcrumb in the results snippet and replaces the long URL with a more readable path. It has a real visual effect in the SERP and it is worth including on all internal pages.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Home",
      "item": "https://mysite.pa/"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Services",
      "item": "https://mysite.pa/services/"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 3,
      "name": "Web design"
    }
  ]
}

The last position does not carry item because it is the current page; the previous ones do link to their respective URLs. The position numbering must be sequential and start at 1.

Type 4: Article and BlogPosting (editorial content)

For any blog article or editorial piece, Article (or its variant BlogPosting) is the required schema. It marks the piece as editorial content and declares author, publication and modification date, and publishing entity. It is the schema that Google and the AI engines use to show editorial results with complete metadata.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "Schema.org in 2026: the 12 types that matter",
  "image": "https://mysite.pa/blog/schema-2026-cover.jpg",
  "datePublished": "2026-05-31T10:00:00-05:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-05-31T10:00:00-05:00",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Website Panama Team",
    "url": "https://websitepanama.com/team/"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://websitepanama.com/#organization"
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://websitepanama.com/blog/schema-org-12-types-2026/"
  }
}

Details that matter: dateModified must be updated when the content is significantly revised, because the AI engines reward freshness (pages not updated in 12 months lose citations). The author field with a well-structured Person object increases editorial authority; simply using "Team X" with no team URL is acceptable but pays off less than an author identified with their own profile. publisher references the global Organization through @id instead of duplicating data.

Type 5: Service (for professional service pages)

Service describes a specific service offered by a business. It is the schema that Google and the AI engines use to understand exactly what a service company does and for what type of searches it is relevant. Each individual service page should have its own Service schema.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Service",
  "name": "Local SEO in Panama",
  "provider": {
    "@id": "https://websitepanama.com/#organization"
  },
  "serviceType": "Search Engine Optimization",
  "areaServed": {
    "@type": "Country",
    "name": "Panama"
  },
  "description": "Monthly management of Google Business Profile, reviews, technical local SEO and citations in Panamanian directories.",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "price": "200",
    "priceSpecification": {
      "@type": "UnitPriceSpecification",
      "price": "200",
      "priceCurrency": "USD",
      "unitText": "MONTH"
    }
  }
}

Including an indicative price in the offers is optional but advisable. It makes the schema more useful for AI engines when answering price queries, and for users when comparisons appear in rich snippets. If you do not want to publish the exact price, you can omit the offer; the schema is still valid without it.

Type 6: FAQPage (after the May change, with caveats)

As we covered at the start, FAQPage lost its visual rich result in the SERP as of May 7, 2026 but is still valid as a Schema.org type and is still useful for AEO. Google indicates that the markup can stay on the pages without causing problems. It is worth continuing to use it when the page has real FAQs that help the user.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How much does local SEO cost in Panama?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Plans start at USD 200 monthly for basic Google Business Profile management, USD 350 for full management with local AEO included, and USD 500+ for multi-location."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How long until I see results?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "The initial Google Business Profile optimization usually yields visible effects within 2 to 4 weeks."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Rules for useful FAQs after the change: each question must sound exactly as a real user would ask it, not translated into a commercial tone; each answer must be self-contained and useful without depending on the context of the rest of the page; do not inflate with artificial questions just to occupy space; apply the FAQPage only where there really are legitimate frequent questions.

Type 7: HowTo (tutorials and step-by-step guides)

HowTo structures instructional content with numbered steps, necessary tools and estimated time. It is the schema that best exploits AI Overviews to answer "how to do X" queries. For guides and tutorials it is one of the formats with the highest return in AI citations in 2026.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "HowTo",
  "name": "How to set up Google Business Profile in Panama",
  "totalTime": "PT45M",
  "supply": [
    { "@type": "HowToSupply", "name": "Google account" },
    { "@type": "HowToSupply", "name": "Business photos" }
  ],
  "step": [
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Create or claim the listing",
      "text": "Go to business.google.com with the Google account you will use to manage the listing and click 'Add your business to Google'."
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Choose profile type",
      "text": "Select between a profile with a visible address or a service area according to your business model."
    }
  ]
}

The ISO 8601 format for totalTime (PT45M = 45 minutes, PT2H30M = 2 hours 30 minutes) confuses many when implementing. Each step must have a short name and descriptive text; the AI models extract both when they cite the content. HowTo schema still generates rich results in Google at the time of publishing this article, unlike FAQPage.

Type 8: Product (for ecommerce)

Product is the mandatory schema for product cards in online stores. It includes price, availability, brand, average rating. It is one of the schemas with the greatest visible presence in the SERP because it generates product rich results (price, stars, availability) that increase CTR significantly.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Panamanian artisan hammock",
  "image": "https://store.pa/hammock-1.jpg",
  "description": "Hammock hand-woven by artisans from Las Tablas, 100% Panamanian cotton.",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Las Tablas Crafts" },
  "sku": "HAM-LT-001",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "url": "https://store.pa/panamanian-artisan-hammock",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "price": "85.00",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "priceValidUntil": "2026-12-31"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.7",
    "reviewCount": "23"
  }
}

Critical rules for Product: the data must match what is visible on the page (price in schema = price on page); availability must reflect the reality of the stock; aggregateRating only if you have real accumulated reviews (Google penalizes invented ratings). The priceValidUntil field avoids warnings in Search Console when the offer has no clear end date.

Type 9: Review and AggregateRating (social signals)

Review marks individual client opinions; AggregateRating summarizes multiple reviews into an average rating. They are the schemas that generate the visible stars in the SERP, one of the rich results with the greatest documented impact on CTR. But they are also the strictest in policies: Google heavily penalizes invented reviews or manipulated ratings.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Review",
  "itemReviewed": {
    "@type": "LocalBusiness",
    "name": "Casa Vieja Restaurant Panama"
  },
  "reviewRating": {
    "@type": "Rating",
    "ratingValue": "5",
    "bestRating": "5"
  },
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Maria Gonzalez"
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-05-15",
  "reviewBody": "Excellent typical Panamanian food, attentive service and fair prices. The sancocho is one of the best I tried in the city."
}

Strict rules: the marked reviews must be real and verifiable; the rating must match what is visible on the page; the author must be a real person (even if only a name appears); the date must be real. Google detects invented reviews through behavior patterns and applies penalties that affect the whole presence of the site, not just the page with the fake review.

Type 10: Event (events with a date)

Event marks events with a date, location and other details. It generates event rich results in Google that appear prominently in the SERP when there are related searches. For sectors like tourism, education, training and entertainment it is a critical schema.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Event",
  "name": "Mejorana Festival 2026",
  "startDate": "2026-09-21T18:00:00-05:00",
  "endDate": "2026-09-24T22:00:00-05:00",
  "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled",
  "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode",
  "location": {
    "@type": "Place",
    "name": "Guararé Central Plaza",
    "address": {
      "@type": "PostalAddress",
      "streetAddress": "Central Plaza",
      "addressLocality": "Guararé",
      "addressRegion": "Los Santos",
      "addressCountry": "PA"
    }
  },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "url": "https://festival.pa/tickets",
    "price": "10.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  }
}

Rules: the dates must be exact and in ISO 8601 format with time zone; eventStatus must be updated if the event changes (EventCancelled, EventRescheduled, EventPostponed) because Google shows visible warnings when an event is cancelled; eventAttendanceMode declares whether it is in-person, virtual or hybrid, a distinction increasingly important after the post-pandemic changes in attendance habits.

Type 11: VideoObject (multimedia content)

VideoObject marks videos embedded on pages with their metadata: duration, thumbnail, description. It is necessary for Google to show the video in its results with the correct thumbnail and for the AI engines to be able to refer to the video's content when it is relevant to a query.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "How to set up Google Business Profile in Panama",
  "description": "Step-by-step tutorial to correctly set up the Google Business Profile listing for Panamanian businesses.",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://mysite.pa/videos/gbp-tutorial-thumb.jpg",
  "uploadDate": "2026-05-31",
  "duration": "PT12M45S",
  "contentUrl": "https://mysite.pa/videos/gbp-tutorial.mp4",
  "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/AbC123XyZ"
}

The duration field uses the same ISO 8601 format as HowTo. Google shows this duration next to the thumbnail in the SERP. For embedded YouTube videos, embedUrl points to the embed URL (not the normal viewing URL). contentUrl is optional but helps Google index the video correctly.

Type 12: Person (authorship and E-E-A-T)

Person declares individuals: content authors, featured employees, professionals associated with the site. It is critical for E-E-A-T signals (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trust) that Google rewards and that the AI models use to evaluate the source's credibility. For editorial content it is the difference between "published by someone" and "published by an identifiable expert".

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "@id": "https://mysite.pa/team/maria-perez/#person",
  "name": "Maria Perez",
  "jobTitle": "SEO and AEO Specialist",
  "worksFor": {
    "@id": "https://mysite.pa/#organization"
  },
  "url": "https://mysite.pa/team/maria-perez/",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://linkedin.com/in/maria-perez-seo",
    "https://x.com/mperez_seo"
  ],
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Technical SEO",
    "Answer Engine Optimization",
    "Schema.org",
    "Core Web Vitals"
  ]
}

The knowsAbout field declares areas of expertise and is relatively new in practical application; the AI engines are beginning to use it to evaluate the author's relevance to the query. sameAs pointing to active professional profiles (LinkedIn especially, X when there is real activity) reinforces authority. A well-made team page with Person schema for each member is a long-term authority asset.

How to validate and publish correctly

Implementing schema without validating it is losing most of the value. Three free official tools cover the complete validation.

Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org), maintained by the Schema.org organization. You paste the JSON-LD and it verifies that it is syntactically correct and uses the valid properties for each type. It is the strictest verification of the standard; any schema you publish should pass this validation with no errors.

Google's Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results). You paste the URL or the code and Google reports whether the schema qualifies for any rich result in Google, what type of result it would generate and specific errors. It is the practical verification of usefulness in Google specifically.

Search Console reports the status of the schemas implemented on your real production site and notifies of errors that appear only in crawl. It is the continuous post-publication verification. Reviewing Search Console monthly catches schemas that broke due to changes in templates or plugins.

Common mistakes we detect on Panamanian sites

After analyzing many Panamanian sites with our AEO Checker, there are repeated patterns of poor implementation worth mentioning.

JSON-LD with broken syntax. An extra comma, an unclosed brace, straight quotes mixed with typographic ones: any of those errors makes Google ignore the whole schema. It happens more than it seems because CMSs with no prior validation publish broken fragments without warning. The rule: never publish schema without validating it first in validator.schema.org.

Duplicate schemas with contradictory data. A page has Organization declared twice with slightly different data (a different phone, a varied address). Google detects the conflict and lowers trust in the whole site. Solution: use @id with unique URLs that act as an identifier and let you reference entities without duplicating data.

Schema with no coherence with visible content. The FAQPage declares 8 questions but only 6 appear visible on the page. The Product declares a price of USD 100 but the page shows USD 120. Google detects these inconsistencies and discounts trust. Rule: every piece of data in schema must be verifiable by looking at the visible page.

Forgetting dateModified. Article and BlogPosting with a correct datePublished but no dateModified, or with a dateModified equal to the datePublished and dated two years ago. The AI engines reward freshness; a dateModified updated when content is revised is worth more than creating new content all the time.

Schemas on internal pages but not on the home. It is the most common mistake: the developer implemented specific schemas on service pages, but the home does not have a global Organization. The home is where Google enters first to explore the site; without Organization there, the internal pages work in isolation.

How schema fits into a complete AEO strategy

Schema.org is a necessary but not sufficient piece of a serious AEO strategy. The other pieces worth combining to maximize the effect include: content written without fillers that the AI engines detect as auto-generated (our free detector filters this), correct configuration of AI bots in robots.txt (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended explicitly allowed), active freshness with quarterly review of pillar pages, consistent presence in external directories and brand mentions in reliable sources.

Within the schema itself, not all properties weigh the same for AI citation. The highest-leverage ones are those that disambiguate your entity and connect it with the knowledge graph: sameAs linking your official profiles and your Wikidata listing, knowsAbout declaring the topics on which your organization has authority, and a stable @id that keeps the same identity across all pages. To these is added speakable, which marks the concrete passage meant to be read or cited by voice assistants and AI. Faced with an engine that no longer shows the enriched result but does read the markup to verify entities, these properties are the ones that most raise the probability of your brand being the named source, more than repeating basic types on each page.

To verify the schema status of a specific site, our AEO Checker is the free tool that runs the automated analysis on any public URL, detecting present schemas, JSON validity, coherence between types, and reporting a weighted score. It is the natural starting point to evaluate where any site stands before investing in improvements.