<b>"Add schema markup and your rankings go up."</b>

<b>"Add schema markup and your rankings go up."</b>

Schema is not a ranking factor. Google has said this directly, more than once.

What structured data actually does: makes you eligible for rich results — star ratings, FAQ accordions, recipe cards, the visual extras in the SERP. Eligible, not entitled; Google decides whether to show them. That eligibility can lift CTR noticeably, which can <i>indirectly</i> help, but the markup itself moves no position in the index.

So when someone adds Product schema and rankings climb the same week, the schema didn't do it. Something else did, and schema got the credit because it was the visible change.

Where people waste effort: marking up everything, including types Google shows no rich result for, then refreshing the rankings hoping for a bump. There's no bump. There's a richer snippet on the types that qualify, and that's the entire prize.

Use schema to win SERP real estate and clicks. Expect zero position change from the markup alone, and you'll never be disappointed.

(FAQ rich results got heavily restricted in 2023. If you're still stuffing FAQ schema for the snippet, check whether it even renders anymore.)