Type selection

Reference

The schema.org vocabulary is organized as a hierarchy. Every type descends from Thing. Choosing the right type means walking down the hierarchy to the most specific type that still accurately describes your content.

Hierarchy diagram

graph TD
  Thing --> CreativeWork
  Thing --> Organization
  Thing --> Person
  Thing --> Place
  Thing --> Product
  Thing --> Event
  Thing --> Intangible
  CreativeWork --> Article
  CreativeWork --> Book
  CreativeWork --> Movie
  Organization --> LocalBusiness
  LocalBusiness --> Restaurant
  LocalBusiness --> Store
  Intangible --> Offer
  Intangible --> Rating

Selection process

1. Start at Thing. Every entity is a Thing.
2. Pick the top level branch. Is your entity a CreativeWork, an Organization, a Person, a Place, a Product, an Event, or an Intangible?
3. Descend to a sub type. A news story is an Article, and more specifically a NewsArticle. A restaurant is a LocalBusiness, and more specifically a Restaurant.
4. Stop at the most specific accurate type. Do not choose a type that overstates what the page describes.
5. Inherit properties. A sub type inherits all properties of its ancestors. A Restaurant can use any LocalBusiness, Organization, and Thing property.

Worked examples

Content	Top branch	Most specific type
A blog post	CreativeWork	BlogPosting
A news story	CreativeWork	NewsArticle
A bakery	Organization	Bakery
A concert	Event	MusicEvent
A job listing	Intangible	JobPosting

Done when

• You have chosen a type that is both accurate and as specific as possible.
• You have confirmed the properties you need are available on that type or an ancestor.