Person Schema

Person Schema 

The Person schema is created for web pages aiming to present structured details about individuals, enhancing their findability in search engine outcomes. This schema plays an important role in allowing search engines to precisely grasp and catalog information about people, thus boosting their online presence and discoverability.

Echoing the purpose and structure of schemas designed for various content types like FAQPage,  NewsArticle or the Profile schema, this schema demands comprehensive information about the individual being described. Embedding a Person schema into a webpage emphasizes critical data such as the individual’s name, job title, location, and a succinct biography. This method improves the presentation of individuals in search results, offering immediate and pertinent insights to web searchers.

The Person schema includes vital fields, divided into mandatory and recommended categories, as outlined below:

Mandatory Fields:

name: Identifies the individual’s full name.

jobTitle: Specifies the person’s professional title or role.

location: Marks the person’s geographical location, with further specifics provided by address details.

Recommended Fields:

description: Provides a brief overview or background of the person.

image: Connects to photos representing the individual.

affiliation: Notes any connections with organizations, companies, or institutions.

alumniOf: Includes educational affiliations, where relevant.

awards: Lists significant awards or honors the person has received.

skills: Outlines particular skills, abilities, or areas of expertise.

By filling out these fields with care, you can create a personal profile that’s both engaging and packed with useful info. This makes browsing the web more enjoyable for users and can even help your profile show up better in search results. Using this schema to outline detailed profiles helps people quickly find the key info they need, making it easier for everyone to learn about and discover individuals.

Here is an example of how it can look like: 

The key difference between a Person Schema and a Profile Schema lies in their scope and use cases. The Person Schema is tailored specifically for individual people, detailing personal attributes like name, job title, and achievements to enhance search engine visibility and standardization. On the other hand, the Profile Schema has a broader application, accommodating information for both individuals and entities across various platforms, and can include additional, context-specific details. 

While the Person Schema focuses on structured data for SEO purposes, the Profile Schema is more versatile, designed to meet the unique needs of different platforms and their users.

How to access Person schema using Rich Snippets

Access it from METAs – Rich Snippet – Person

Clicking on the “+” symbol will open up a panel where you can start editing and customizing your Schema Template.

A pop-up will appear

Add your data, a question and its answer.
Mandatory fields will have small red starlike symbol (*) added to them:

Headline: This is a brief statement that sums up who the person is professionally. It’s like a quick snapshot of their job role and key skills. For example, “Experienced Graphic Designer Specializing in Digital Art.”

The “{{title}}” section refers to the job title or official position a person holds within an organization or a profession, this is automatically added by Squirrly SEO, however you can manually change it.

Description – Should succinctly summarize the individual’s professional background, key skills, and notable achievements. The format typically follows a brief paragraph or bullet points, focusing on the most important and relevant information.

This field is {{excerpt}} meaning that it will import a brief summary or snippet of the content on the page, and is added automatically, but it can also be manually inserted.

Email – It’s important to use a professional email format, ideally including the person’s name or a variation that makes it clear who the email belongs to. For example, a good format could be firstname.lastname@example.com or firstinitial.lastname@example.com.

Address – The format and level of detail can vary depending on the context and the need for privacy.
A recommended format for structuring the “address” field is as follows:

• Street Address: The number and street name of the building (e.g., “123 Main St”).
• City/Town: The name of the city or town (e.g., “Springfield”).
• State/Province: The name of the state or province, if applicable (e.g., “Illinois”).
• Postal/Zip Code: The postal or zip code to help in mail delivery (e.g., “12345”).
• Country: The name of the country (e.g., “United States”).

Gender – The “gender” field refers to the gender identity of the person. It’s important to handle this field with sensitivity and inclusiveness, allowing individuals to self-identify in a way that best represents their personal identity. Traditionally, gender options included “male” and “female,” but it’s increasingly recognized that gender is a spectrum, and providing more inclusive options is recommended.

Job title – Specific label that describes a the current position or role within an organization

Note: While the job title is about one’s current role and its specific functions, the headline is a broader, self-defined statement that provides a snapshot of the person’s professional identity and aspirations.
Example:
Job title:  “Software Engineer” versus Headline: “Experienced Software Engineer Specializing in Machine Learning and AI”

Make sure to click on Save

With this you have a Person schema set up. All there is left to do is check it up and see if it works as expected. This is easier than you imagine, and Squirrly will help with the steps.

Verify Markup

After saving your changes, you can verify that the Person schema markup has been added correctly by viewing the page or post source code. Look for the JSON-LD markup representing the Person schema.

1. Click onJSON-LD Code – Validate JSON-LD

2. A new page / tab will open you will get you test code, click on TEST CODE

3. A small pop-up appears, and you will have to wait a few moments for the data to be processed
4. Once data is processed, you will be able to see your work, test it, share it and use it to enhance your work.

For further details, we recommend referring to the following resources
Person Schema
The Squirrly SEO Patterns List