Medical schema markup

A plugin that marks every page as one MedicalClinic or one Physician passes every syntax test and still describes a practice that does not exist: the group, each location and each doctor become one thing.

Medical organization schema for the group, its clinics and its doctors

Schema for a health practice starts from its real map of who works where. Consider a group with two staffed clinics and a physician who sees patients at both. The group, each clinic and the physician are distinct, and their pages show those relationships before the structured data repeats them.

Medical local SEO uses the same test: a second Business Profile or location node needs a second real clinic.

The group's own page carries MedicalOrganization, since Google recommends the most specific Schema.org subtype of Organization that matches the organization. Its url helps Google identify the group, sameAs points to the group's profiles elsewhere, and logo can influence which logo Google shows.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "MedicalOrganization",
  "@id": "https://example.com/#organization",
  "name": "Northline Medical Group",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "telephone": "+1-555-0100",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/northline-medical-group"
  ]
}

Medical clinic schema

This example describes one clinic location and its parent organization. The names and URLs are illustrative.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "MedicalClinic",
  "@id": "https://example.com/locations/central/#clinic",
  "name": "Northline Central",
  "url": "https://example.com/locations/central/",
  "telephone": "+1-555-0100",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "100 Example Street",
    "addressLocality": "Example City",
    "addressRegion": "CA",
    "postalCode": "90000",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "parentOrganization": {
    "@id": "https://example.com/#organization"
  }
}

Schema.org defines MedicalClinic as a LocalBusiness subtype, and the sample carries the name and physical address Google requires, plus a telephone and URL, so the Rich Results Test can assess it for the Local Business feature. Eligibility may support a business knowledge panel or other local presentation, but Google does not guarantee display. Add maintained hours, geo coordinates, departments, or other recommended Local Business properties when the visible page supports them.

Physician schema for a doctor's page

Physician schema markup starts from what a doctor's page is: visibly about one person. Google's ProfilePage documentation accepts a Person as the main entity of a genuine employee profile. That is a cleaner description of the page than forcing the Schema.org Physician type, whose historical hierarchy describes an organization or medical business rather than a Person.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "ProfilePage",
  "@id": "https://example.com/doctors/taylor-morgan/#page",
  "url": "https://example.com/doctors/taylor-morgan/",
  "mainEntity": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "@id": "https://example.com/doctors/taylor-morgan/#person",
    "name": "Dr. Taylor Morgan",
    "jobTitle": "Physician",
    "worksFor": {
      "@id": "https://example.com/#organization"
    }
  }
}

Add credentials, affiliations, image, locations, and identity references only when the visible profile and maintained records support them. If the URL is instead the office or practice location, a truthful MedicalClinic, Physician, or other medical-organization subtype may fit the subject. Do not give one node both roles to avoid making the choice.

Since 2024 Schema.org has also had IndividualPhysician, an individual medical practitioner, with usNPI, medicalSpecialty, hospitalAffiliation and practicesAt for the clinics and hospitals where the doctor practices. It sits under MedicalBusiness, not Person, so it describes the doctor as a provider patients book; the Person above, as the main entity of a ProfilePage, is what Google's profile documentation describes.

Medical procedure schema

Schema.org defines MedicalProcedure and more specific types such as SurgicalProcedure. It can describe a procedure page and can be connected as an availableService from a clinic or Schema.org Physician node. Google currently documents no dedicated MedicalProcedure rich result, so the markup should not be sold as a ranking or display feature.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "SurgicalProcedure",
  "@id": "https://example.com/procedures/rhinoplasty/#procedure",
  "name": "Rhinoplasty",
  "url": "https://example.com/procedures/rhinoplasty/",
  "bodyLocation": "Nose",
  "relevantSpecialty": "https://schema.org/PlasticSurgery",
  "mainEntityOfPage": "https://example.com/procedures/rhinoplasty/"
}

Properties such as preparation, how the procedure is performed, and follow-up should appear only when the page states that clinically reviewed information. The code is a description of published facts, not a substitute for the procedure content a prospective patient needs.

The surgeon and the procedure are different subjects. In plastic surgery SEO, the surgeon's page establishes identity, credentials, affiliations and consultation locations, while a rhinoplasty page explains the procedure; marking both as the same Physician entity collapses the two.

Which properties to add

Add a property only when the visible page supports it and a maintained record can keep it true. The schema's medical specialty for a doctor is the one the doctor's page names. Address and hours come from the location record. Verify usNPI against the exact provider's NPI record. isAcceptingNewPatients needs a maintained source because availability can change long before the next SEO release.

What Google does with medical schema

Google's current structured-data gallery documents feature eligibility, while Schema.org provides a wider descriptive vocabulary. For a medical-practice website, these are separate implementation decisions.

How to test medical schema

The Schema.org validator checks the vocabulary and graph. Google's Rich Results Test checks documented feature eligibility. Google also requires structured data to represent the visible page content in its general guidelines.

1. Compare every node with the actual group, location, practitioner, and subject of the page.
2. Run the complete graph through the Schema.org validator.
3. Use Google's Rich Results Test only for features Google documents.
4. Check the live page's rendered HTML and canonical URL, then monitor the URL in Search Console.
5. Name who updates hours, locations, practitioners, and availability at the source.

None of this makes a page rank. A medical SEO company earns that with the page itself, the practice's Business Profiles and the links to them, and the markup only describes them.