Person

The Person type represents an individual human being. Person markup helps search engines identify authors, founders, speakers, and other individuals mentioned on a website. It connects a person to their social profiles, employer, and published works. Google uses Person data to build knowledge panels and to validate article authorship. For JSON-LD syntax basics, see JSON-LD Explained.

When to Use This

Use Person whenever you need to identify a specific individual in structured data. The most common scenarios:

• Article authors - nest a Person inside the author property of Article markup
• Organization founders - nest a Person inside the founder property of Organization markup
• Team/about pages - standalone Person markup for each team member
• Speaker or contributor profiles - on event pages, podcast pages, or contributor directories

Use standalone Person markup (its own <script type="application/ld+json"> block) only on pages dedicated to that individual, such as an author bio page or team member profile.

For people nested inside other types (like an article’s author), use an inline Person object rather than a separate script block.

Do not use Person for:

• Companies or organizations - use Organization instead
• Fictional characters - Person is for real people
• User-generated profile pages where the person has not consented to structured markup

Required Properties

Recommended Properties

JSON-LD Example

A standalone Person markup for an author profile page:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Elena Vasquez",
  "url": "https://www.elenavasquez.com",
  "image": "https://www.elenavasquez.com/images/headshot.jpg",
  "jobTitle": "Staff Engineer",
  "description": "Elena Vasquez is a staff engineer at Northwind Labs, specializing in search infrastructure and structured data systems.",
  "worksFor": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Northwind Labs",
    "url": "https://www.northwindlabs.com"
  },
  "alumniOf": {
    "@type": "EducationalOrganization",
    "name": "University of Washington"
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenavasquez",
    "https://twitter.com/elenavasquez",
    "https://github.com/elenavasquez"
  ],
  "knowsAbout": [
    "structured data",
    "search engine optimization",
    "knowledge graphs",
    "web standards"
  ]
}

A Person nested as an article author (the most common usage):

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Understanding Knowledge Graph Construction",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Elena Vasquez",
    "url": "https://www.elenavasquez.com",
    "jobTitle": "Staff Engineer",
    "worksFor": {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "name": "Northwind Labs"
    }
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-03-15T10:00:00-07:00",
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Northwind Labs",
    "url": "https://www.northwindlabs.com",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://www.northwindlabs.com/images/logo.png",
      "width": 300,
      "height": 60
    }
  }
}

The same standalone Person marked up with Microdata:

<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Person">
  <img itemprop="image" src="https://www.elenavasquez.com/images/headshot.jpg"
       alt="Elena Vasquez" width="200" height="200" />
  <h1 itemprop="name">Elena Vasquez</h1>
  <p itemprop="description">Staff engineer at Northwind Labs, specializing in search infrastructure and structured data systems.</p>

  <p>
    <span itemprop="jobTitle">Staff Engineer</span> at
    <span itemprop="worksFor" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization">
      <a itemprop="url" href="https://www.northwindlabs.com">
        <span itemprop="name">Northwind Labs</span>
      </a>
    </span>
  </p>

  <a itemprop="url" href="https://www.elenavasquez.com">Website</a>
  <a itemprop="sameAs" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenavasquez">LinkedIn</a>
  <a itemprop="sameAs" href="https://twitter.com/elenavasquez">Twitter</a>
  <a itemprop="sameAs" href="https://github.com/elenavasquez">GitHub</a>
</div>

The same standalone Person marked up with RDFa:

<div vocab="https://schema.org/" typeof="Person">
  <img property="image" src="https://www.elenavasquez.com/images/headshot.jpg"
       alt="Elena Vasquez" width="200" height="200" />
  <h1 property="name">Elena Vasquez</h1>
  <p property="description">Staff engineer at Northwind Labs, specializing in search infrastructure and structured data systems.</p>

  <p>
    <span property="jobTitle">Staff Engineer</span> at
    <span property="worksFor" typeof="Organization">
      <a property="url" href="https://www.northwindlabs.com">
        <span property="name">Northwind Labs</span>
      </a>
    </span>
  </p>

  <a property="url" href="https://www.elenavasquez.com">Website</a>
  <a property="sameAs" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenavasquez">LinkedIn</a>
  <a property="sameAs" href="https://twitter.com/elenavasquez">Twitter</a>
  <a property="sameAs" href="https://github.com/elenavasquez">GitHub</a>
</div>

Common Mistakes

• Using a plain string for author instead of a Person object. "author": "Elena Vasquez" is invalid. Always use "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elena Vasquez" }.
• Missing url on author Person objects. Google strongly recommends that each author Person includes a url pointing to a profile page or bio. This helps Google verify authorship and build author entities.Google Docs
• Duplicating Person markup across every article page. When a person is the author of many articles, use consistent name and url values across all articles. Do not create standalone Person script blocks on every article page. Reserve standalone markup for the author’s dedicated profile page.
• Inconsistent names across pages. Use the exact same name string everywhere. “Elena Vasquez”, “E. Vasquez”, and “Elena M. Vasquez” are treated as different entities. Pick one form and stick with it.
• Missing sameAs links. Without sameAs, search engines have a harder time connecting the person to their knowledge graph entry. Include at least LinkedIn or another authoritative profile.
• Including private information. Do not add email, telephone, or birthDate unless the person has explicitly made this information public and consents to it appearing in structured data.
• Using Person for organizations. A freelancer is still a Person. Use Organization only for actual companies or institutions, not for sole proprietors acting as individuals.

Testing & Validation

1. Google Rich Results Test - Paste the page URL at search.google.com/test/rich-results. For standalone Person pages, look for knowledge panel eligibility. For articles, verify the author is correctly parsed.
2. Schema.org Validator - Use validator.schema.org to confirm the JSON-LD is well-formed.
3. Google Search Console - Check for structured data errors under the Enhancements section. Author-related warnings often appear under the Article report.
4. Knowledge panel verification - After Google indexes your Person markup, the individual may appear in a knowledge panel. Verify the displayed information is accurate.
5. Cross-reference sameAs links - Visit each URL in the sameAs array and confirm it links to an active, authentic profile for that person.

Related Schemas

• Organization - For companies and institutions. Often used alongside Person for employer relationships.
• Article - The most common place Person appears, as the author property.
• LocalBusiness - For businesses with physical locations. May reference a Person as founder or employee.