What is a schema markup validator?
Schema markup, also called structured data, is code that tells search engines what a page is about in a fixed format: a product with a price, an article with an author, a list of questions and answers. A schema markup validator reads that code and checks it.
Valid markup makes a page eligible for rich results such as stars, prices, FAQs and breadcrumbs in search. Broken markup is ignored.
What does it check?
It reads every block on the page in JSON-LD, Microdata or RDFa, and lists the types it finds. For each type that Google supports for rich results, it checks the required fields, then the recommended ones.
It also catches broken JSON, dates and prices in the wrong format, and links that point nowhere.
Which types matter most?
Organization and WebSite help search engines understand who is behind the site. BreadcrumbList shows the page's place in the site. Article, Product, FAQPage, HowTo, LocalBusiness and Event can earn rich results when their fields are complete.
Test before you publish
You can paste code instead of an address, so markup can be checked before a page goes live. After publishing, Website Audit checks structured data on every page and Change Monitor warns when it changes.