Person schema, explained
Person describes a real individual, such as an author, founder or practitioner. Google has no stand-alone rich result for Person, but reads it as an article author and as the mainEntity of a ProfilePage. Give each person a stable @id, a url for their bio page and sameAs links to their own profiles.
What it's for
Person is "a person (alive, dead, undead, or fictional)". For a business site it usually describes authors, founders and staff. Google uses Person in two places:
- Article authors. Google recommends
authorwith@type,nameand aurlorsameAs(Google: Article). - Profile pages. On a ProfilePage, the Person is the
mainEntity; Google requiresnameand recommendsalternateName,description,identifier,imageandsameAs(Google: Profile page).
Key properties
| Property | What it holds | |
|---|---|---|
name |
The person's real name. | Required (ProfilePage); recommended (author) |
url |
Their bio or profile page. | Recommended for authors |
sameAs |
Their own profiles elsewhere (LinkedIn, GitHub, Wikidata). | Recommended |
alternateName |
Another name or handle. | Recommended (ProfilePage) |
description, image |
Byline or credentials; a real photo, not a placeholder. | Recommended (ProfilePage) |
jobTitle, worksFor |
Role and employer, worksFor by @id. |
— |
Minimal example
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Person",
"@id": "https://example.com/about/jane-doe/#person",
"name": "Jane Doe",
"url": "https://example.com/about/jane-doe/",
"jobTitle": "Head plumber",
"worksFor": { "@id": "https://example.com/#organization" },
"sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/in/janedoe-example/"]
}
Common mistakes
- Titles and credentials in
name("Dr. Jane Doe, MBA"). Google asks for only the name; usehonorificPrefix,jobTitleand similar properties. - A new Person node on every article without a shared
@id, so one author becomes many. - sameAs to someone else with the same name.
- A stock image in
image. Google says not to use a placeholder.
Sources
- schema.org: Person
- Google Search Central: Article author best practices, Profile page (last updated 8 September 2026)