How to do a schema markup audit.

Step 1 — Extract

Find what's already there.

Before changing anything, inventory every piece of structured data on the site. Crawl it with a tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb that extracts JSON-LD across all URLs — including markup your theme or a plugin is emitting that you never set up. You're building a complete picture, not spot-checking the homepage.

• Crawl the whole siteScreaming Frog or Sitebulb to pull JSON-LD from every URL.
• List schema by templateWhich page types have markup, which don't.
• Flag multiple sourcesTheme + plugin both emitting? Note it now.

Step 2 — Validate

Check syntax and required fields.

Run the extracted code through the Schema Markup Validator for general schema.org compliance, and Google's Rich Results Test for Google-specific eligibility. Errors must be fixed — they stop your markup being read. Warnings are optional fields worth filling to deepen understanding.

• Schema Markup ValidatorCatches missing required properties and broken nesting.
• Google Rich Results TestConfirms eligibility for specific enhancements.
• Errors vs warningsFix errors first; warnings are depth, not blockers.

Steps 3 & 4 — Eligibility & alignment

Match Google's rules — and your page.

Confirm each type meets Google's guidelines for the rich result you want, then verify the markup matches the visible content exactly. Marking up data the user can't see — or tagging a blog post as a product — is the fast route to a manual penalty. Alignment is non-negotiable.

• Guideline compliance per typeEach rich result has specific required properties.
• Content-to-markup matchOnly mark up what's visible on the page.
• Correct type selectionThe most specific type that honestly fits.

Step 5 — Expand

Add the schema you're missing.

The real wins are usually the markup you don't have yet. Move past basic rich results to entity schema — Organization, Person, Article — connected in an @graph so search engines and AI build a knowledge graph of your site. This is what turns a clean audit into more visibility.

Get a done-for-you audit →

• Entity schema, not just rich resultsOrganization, Person, Article, connected by @id.
• Build toward AI citationA knowledge graph AI search can read and quote.
• Prioritize by impactShip the highest-leverage additions first.