Schema Markup
Structured data added to your site to help search engines understand your content.
Schema markup is structured data added to your website that tells search engines what your content means in machine-readable terms, rather than leaving them to infer it from page text. For a care home, schema markup can communicate your CQC registration number, your current rating, the date of your last inspection, your care types, your address, and your review score, all in a format Google can read directly rather than approximate.
The practical benefit is that Google can surface this information more accurately in search results. A care home with correct LocalBusiness or MedicalBusiness schema markup may have its CQC rating and care types displayed in the Knowledge Panel on the right side of search results. FAQ schema can allow specific questions and answers to appear directly in search results, increasing the space your result occupies and the click-through rate from families who see it.
Most care home websites have no schema markup at all. This means Google is inferring your care types, location, and regulatory status from page text instead of knowing it definitively. A site with correct schema markup starts every search result from a position of greater clarity and trust with Google's systems.
The most important schema types for care homes are LocalBusiness, including MedicalBusiness or NursingHome as more specific sub-types, FAQPage for pages with structured questions and answers, BreadcrumbList for navigation structure, and Article for resource and guide content. Schema is implemented in the site code as a JSON-LD script tag and avoids affecting the visual appearance of your pages.