Blog · Oct 6, 2026
What is schema markup, in plain English?
A label-maker for your website
Your website shows visitors "(412) 555-0140." A human knows that's a phone number. A machine just sees digits. Schema markup is a hidden label that says: this is our phone number. Same for your address, your hours, your prices, your FAQs — every important fact gets a label machines can't misread.
It changes nothing about how your site looks. Visitors never see it. It's purely for machines — search engines and AI systems.
Why AI cares about labels
When ChatGPT answers "when does Acme Plumbing open?", it wants to quote a fact, not guess one. If your hours are labeled, it quotes the label confidently. If they're not, it has to interpret your footer — and it would rather cite a competitor with clear labels than risk quoting you wrong. Labels turn your facts into citable answers.
What a small business actually needs
You don't need all of it. Most small businesses need two labels:
- Your business facts (name, address, phone, hours, service area). This is what feeds "near me" answers.
- Your FAQs (each question paired with its answer). Question-and-answer content maps directly onto how people prompt AI.
That's the majority of the value. Everything else is optional.
How it gets on your site
The labels live in a small block of code in your page — your web person adds it once, and it sits there quietly doing its job. On some platforms there are plugins that generate it for you. If you want the technical version with copy-paste examples, read our Schema.org markup guide.
How to check yours
A CrawlReady scan detects which labels your site already has and which facts are missing them — then tells you exactly what to add and where. One token, one full scan.