Schema markup uses JSON-LD format inserted in your page's <head> or <body> tag. For a local business, you'd add Organization and LocalBusiness types with your name, address, phone, hours, and service area. For blog content, Article schema includes headline, author, datePublished, and image properties. FAQ schema wraps multiple Question entities, each with an acceptedAnswer field. A basic LocalBusiness example includes "@type": "LocalBusiness", "name": "Ottawa SEO Inc.", "address" with streetAddress, addressLocality, postalCode, "telephone", "url", and "openingHours". You validate this through Google's Rich Results Test to confirm it's error-free before deploying. Product schema matters for ecommerce: you add "offers" with price, priceCurrency (CAD for Canadian stores), availability, and aggregateRating if you have reviews. Breadcrumb schema helps Google display your site hierarchy in search results, especially useful for multi-level service pages or category structures. Ottawa SEO implements schema in WordPress using plugins like Rank Math or Yoast for basics, but we hand-code custom JSON-LD for complex scenarios like multi-location businesses or service-area definitions that span Ottawa-Gatineau or Greater Toronto. Auto-generated schema from plugins often misses nuances like service radius or specific offerings. Priority order: start with Organization and LocalBusiness if you're local, then add Article or Product depending on your content type. FAQ and HowTo schemas can win featured snippets but only implement them where the content genuinely matches that format. Google ignores or penalizes schema that doesn't reflect visible page content. Common mistakes include mismatched dates (publishing a 2023 article with 2025 datePublished), missing required fields like image dimensions for Article schema, or stuffing keywords into description properties. Keep markup accurate to what users actually see on the page. Schema doesn't guarantee rich results, but missing it means you definitely won't get them for competitive queries.