Schema Markup for Real Estate Websites: What to Add and What It Does

What structured data does and doesn't do

Google describes structured data as a way to provide explicit clues about the meaning of a page. Some types make a page eligible for rich results, such as breadcrumbs or review snippets in the search listing. Others simply help Google understand the entities on a page and how they relate.

Google is also clear that adding structured data doesn't mean a rich result will appear, and that markup must follow its guidelines. The general structured data guidelines require that markup represents the main content of the page, is visible to users and is not misleading. Violations can make a page ineligible for rich results.

The types most real estate sites should use

A small set of types covers most needs. Add them in JSON-LD, the format Google recommends, and generate them from the same data that renders the page so they never drift apart.

Organization and LocalBusiness

Organization markup on the home or about page identifies your firm: legal or trading name, website, logo, contact points and profiles on other sites through sameAs. Google's Organization documentation explains how these properties can inform how your brand appears in search.

For offices that serve clients in person, LocalBusiness markup, or its more specific schema.org subtype RealEstateAgent, adds the address, phone number, opening hours and coordinates. Keep every detail identical to your Google Business Profile and the page's visible content. Service-area businesses that don't receive clients at their address should be careful not to publish an address in markup that they hide elsewhere.

Breadcrumbs

BreadcrumbList markup describes where a page sits in the site: Home, then Properties, then SoHo, then 575 Broadway. Google can show that trail in the search listing in place of a long URL, which helps searchers understand the page before they click. It is one of the few types with a consistent visible effect, and it suits the deep, structured nature of property sites.

Make sure the breadcrumb in the markup matches a breadcrumb or navigation path visible on the page, and that every item URL resolves.

Buildings, communities and units

Schema.org includes types for places and accommodation: Place, Accommodation, Apartment, ApartmentComplex, House and SingleFamilyResidence among them. They let you describe a building's name, address, coordinates, floor size, number of rooms and amenities. Google doesn't currently offer a rich result for these types, so their value is in clarity: connecting the building, its address and your firm unambiguously.

That clarity is still worth having on permanent building and community pages. Keep the markup to facts visible on the page, update it when details change, and don't mark up availability or prices you don't publish.

FAQ markup after 2023

FAQPage markup was once a popular way to take up more space in search results. In August 2023, Google announced that FAQ rich results would be shown only for well-known, authoritative government and health websites, and that HowTo rich results would be removed. For real estate firms, FAQ markup no longer produces the expanded listing.

It isn't harmful when it accurately describes a visible FAQ section, and some teams keep it because other systems may read it. Just don't expect a visible change in Google, and don't add FAQ sections purely for markup.

Events and open houses

Event markup can describe open houses, broker previews and launch events with a date, time, location and status. Google's event documentation sets out the requirements, including that the event must be a real event people can attend and that the page must be about that event. Update the status if an event is cancelled or rescheduled.

Articles and authors

Guides and market notes benefit from Article markup with the headline, a named author, the publication date and the date of the last substantive update. It reinforces what the page shows and helps search engines display accurate dates. Link the author to an about page that describes who they are, which also supports the credibility readers look for in expert content.

Review stars: the self-serving rule

Many real estate firms hope to show star ratings next to their search results by marking up testimonials on their own site. Google's review snippet guidelines rule this out for local businesses and organizations. If the business being reviewed controls the reviews about itself, its pages using LocalBusiness or Organization markup are ineligible for the star review feature, including when the reviews come from an embedded widget of Google or Facebook reviews.

Show reviews on your site for visitors, because they help people decide. Just don't mark them up expecting stars in search results, and never invent or edit ratings. Stars for local businesses come from genuine reviews on platforms such as Google Business Profile.

Common structured data mistakes

These are the markup problems we find most often on real estate sites. Each one wastes effort or risks eligibility.

• Markup copied from a template that still names another business or an old address.
• LocalBusiness markup with an address the firm hides on its Google Business Profile.
• Prices, availability or amenities in markup that the page doesn't show.
• Several conflicting Organization blocks from different plugins on the same page.
• Breadcrumb markup that doesn't match the site's real navigation.
• Event markup left on pages after the event has passed.

Testing and maintenance

Structured data breaks quietly. A template change removes a field, a price format changes, a page is redesigned and the markup no longer matches. Build testing into your routine.

1. 01

   Validate syntax

   Use the Schema Markup Validator to check any schema.org markup for errors.

2. 02

   Check Google eligibility

   Use Google's Rich Results Test for types that can produce rich results, such as breadcrumbs and events.

3. 03

   Monitor in Search Console

   Enhancement reports show errors and warnings across the site for supported types.

4. 04

   Generate, don't hand-write

   Produce markup from the same data as the page so updates happen together.

5. 05

   Re-test after changes

   Check key templates after every redesign or CMS change.

What to prioritize

For most real estate firms the order is simple: Organization and LocalBusiness or RealEstateAgent on the relevant pages, BreadcrumbList site-wide, Article on guides, then descriptive types on building and community pages. Event markup where you run real events. Beyond that, the returns from more markup are small compared with better pages.

Structured data is part of every site we build. See our real estate web design and commercial real estate SEO services, and the guide to property listing page SEO for how markup fits into building pages.