Schema markup (structured data)
Schema markup is hidden code on a page that states plainly what the page is about, in a format search engines read directly.
It tells Google that a string of numbers is a phone number, that a name is a business, that a block of text is a review.
The common types for a service business are LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage and BreadcrumbList.
Done properly it makes rich results possible, meaning star ratings, FAQ dropdowns and breadcrumb trails in the listing.
It doesn't raise rankings by itself, and it does make a listing take up more room and read more clearly.
The rule that matters is that it must describe what's genuinely on the page, because marking up reviews you don't display is a manual action waiting to happen.
Stick to the standard types, because invented AI-specific schema does nothing at all.
What this means for you
Cheap to add during a build and fiddly to retrofit. Its real value now is being unambiguous about who you are to systems reading the page without a human in the loop.
This one sits under Web design.
Want to know how this looks on your account?
I'll look at what you've got and tell you where it stands, in the same plain terms.
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