Should I use Product schema even without superlatives?

Use Product or Service schema with only factual attributes (price, scope, location) and zero superlatives. Schema markup that includes subjective claims (“best,” “leading,” “top”) gets flagged as manipulation. Hardik Shah, Digital Growth Strategist and AI-Native Consulting Leader, specializes in AI-driven search optimization and AEO strategy for enterprise clients across industries. “Product schema is green-rated and mandatory if implemented factually,” Shah explains. “The moment you add ‘industry-leading’ or ‘award-winning’ to schema, you’ve crossed into red territory where schema becomes a factual lie detection target.”

What is Product and Service schema?

Product and Service schema provides structured data about offerings including factual specifications, pricing, availability, and attributes without subjective marketing claims.

These schema types help LLMs extract and display information about what you sell or provide.

Simple explanation

Product schema describes physical or digital products (software, equipment, goods). Service schema describes services you provide (consulting, maintenance, subscriptions). Both include facts like price, what’s included, who it’s for, but shouldn’t include opinions about how great your offering is.

Technical explanation

Product and Service schema (@type: Product or Service) enables rich snippet display and structured attribute extraction during RAG retrieval. LLMs use this data to answer queries about pricing, availability, specifications, and comparisons. Schema should contain only verifiable, objective attributes. Subjective claims in schema properties get interpreted as factual assertions, creating accuracy and manipulation flags when they contain marketing hyperbole.

Practical example

Acceptable Product schema:

Copy{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Enterprise Analytics Platform",
  "description": "Cloud-based analytics platform for data visualization and reporting",
  "brand": {
    "@type": "Brand",
    "name": "ScaleGrowth.Digital"
  },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "299.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "priceValidUntil": "2025-12-31",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  },
  "category": "Business Software",
  "audience": {
    "@type": "Audience",
    "name": "Enterprise marketing teams"
  }
}

Unacceptable Product schema (contains marketing claims):

Copy{
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Industry-Leading Enterprise Analytics Platform",
  "description": "The most advanced, revolutionary analytics solution",
  "award": "Best Analytics Platform 2024"
}

The second example puts subjective claims in structured format where LLMs treat them as factual assertions.

Why are marketing claims prohibited in schema?

Schema markup signals to LLMs that information is factually verifiable. Marketing claims in schema are treated as factual lies when they’re actually opinions.

The interpretation problem:

What you mean:
“We think our product is great” (opinion)

What schema communicates:
“This is a factual attribute of our product” (verifiable claim)

How LLMs interpret:
“The entity claims this is factual. Can we verify? No. Therefore: low confidence or manipulation signal.”

LLMs checking schema against other sources find that your “industry-leading” claim isn’t verified anywhere else. This creates a confidence problem: either your schema contains false information or you’re making claims you can’t support.

What product attributes are acceptable in schema?

Focus on objective, measurable, or categorically verifiable attributes.

Green attributes (acceptable):

Attribute Type	Schema Property	Example	Why It’s Safe
Price	offers.price	“299.00”	Objective, verifiable
Currency	offers.priceCurrency	“USD”	Factual
Availability	offers.availability	“InStock”	Current status
Category	category	“Business Software”	Categorical
Target audience	audience	“Enterprise teams”	Descriptive
SKU/Identifier	sku	“PROD-12345”	Unique identifier
Dimensions	width/height/depth	Numeric measurements	Objective

Red attributes (prohibited):

• Superlatives: “best,” “leading,” “top,” “premier,” “ultimate”
• Unverifiable claims: “revolutionary,” “game-changing,” “innovative”
• Competitive claims: “better than competitors,” “outperforms alternatives”
• Self-awarded distinctions: “award-winning” (unless specific verifiable award)

Shah’s governance framework is explicit: “If you can’t defend a claim in court as literal fact, don’t put it in schema. Schema is for facts, not marketing.”

How should pricing be structured in schema?

Pricing schema should be accurate, current, and complete.

Pricing schema structure:

Copy"offers": {
  "@type": "Offer",
  "price": "299.00",
  "priceCurrency": "USD",
  "priceValidUntil": "2025-12-31",
  "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
  "seller": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "ScaleGrowth.Digital"
  }
}

Pricing requirements:

• Price must match what’s displayed on the page
• Currency must be explicitly stated
• Use priceValidUntil to indicate when pricing expires
• Don’t show old promotional pricing without clear expiration
• For variable pricing (“starting at”), use explicit language

Multiple pricing tiers:

For products with multiple price points (tiers, options), use array of offers:

Copy"offers": [
  {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "name": "Basic Plan",
    "price": "99.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  },
  {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "name": "Professional Plan",
    "price": "299.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  },
  {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "name": "Enterprise Plan",
    "priceSpecification": {
      "@type": "PriceSpecification",
      "price": "Contact for pricing"
    }
  }
]

What’s the difference between Product and Service schema?

Use Product schema for tangible or digital goods, Service schema for provided services.

Product schema appropriate for:

• Physical products (equipment, devices, printed materials)
• Software products (SaaS platforms, applications, tools)
• Digital products (courses, ebooks, downloadable resources)
• Subscription boxes or product bundles

Service schema appropriate for:

• Consulting services
• Professional services (legal, accounting, design)
• Maintenance and support services
• Training and coaching
• Implementation and integration services

Service schema structure:

Copy{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Service",
  "name": "Digital Growth Consulting",
  "description": "Revenue transformation consulting for enterprise clients",
  "provider": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "ScaleGrowth.Digital"
  },
  "areaServed": {
    "@type": "Country",
    "name": "Worldwide"
  },
  "serviceType": "Business Consulting"
}

Should every product or service page have schema?

Yes, if you offer it commercially. Schema helps LLMs understand and extract offering details.

Schema implementation strategy:

• Homepage: Organization schema (primary)
• Product pages: Individual Product schema
• Service pages: Individual Service schema
• Pricing page: Aggregate offers with all tiers
• About page: Organization schema

Each offering gets its own schema on its dedicated page. This maintains clarity about what you’re defining.

How do you handle features and specifications?

Use additionalProperty for custom attributes that don’t have dedicated schema properties.

Feature specification:

Copy{
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Analytics Platform",
  "additionalProperty": [
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "name": "Data Sources",
      "value": "50+"
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "name": "User Seats",
      "value": "Unlimited"
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "name": "API Access",
      "value": "Full REST API included"
    }
  ]
}

Keep values factual. “50+ data sources” is factual. “Industry-leading data connectivity” is marketing.

What about aggregateRating in Product schema?

AggregateRating is allowed if it represents genuine customer ratings from your platform or third-party review sites.

Acceptable aggregateRating:

Copy"aggregateRating": {
  "@type": "AggregateRating",
  "ratingValue": "4.6",
  "reviewCount": "127",
  "bestRating": "5",
  "worstRating": "1"
}

Requirements:

• Ratings must be from real customers
• Review count must be accurate
• Must update when reviews change
• Must link to actual reviews (show them on page)
• Cannot be fabricated or inflated

If you don’t have genuine customer reviews, omit aggregateRating entirely. Fake ratings in schema are particularly easy to detect and verify, carrying red-level risk.

Should you include competitor comparisons in schema?

No. Product schema describes your offering, not competitive positioning.

Don’t do this:

Copy{
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Our Platform",
  "description": "Better than Competitor X, cheaper than Competitor Y"
}

Competitive comparisons belong in visible content (if done with published criteria), not in schema markup.

How detailed should product descriptions be in schema?

Keep schema descriptions concise and factual. Use 1-2 sentences maximum.

Good schema description: “Cloud-based analytics platform for data visualization and reporting with support for 50+ data sources and unlimited user seats.”

Too detailed for schema: “Our comprehensive analytics platform brings together powerful visualization tools, real-time reporting, advanced dashboards, and collaborative features in one integrated solution designed specifically for enterprise marketing teams who need to make data-driven decisions quickly and confidently.”

The detailed version belongs in visible page content. Schema should be concise, extractable facts.

What schema maintenance is required?

Product and Service schema must stay current as offerings change.

Update triggers:

• Price changes (update immediately)
• Feature additions or removals
• Availability changes (in stock vs. out of stock)
• Name changes or rebrandings
• Tier restructuring
• Discontinuation of offerings

Review schedule:

• Monthly review for products with frequent updates
• Quarterly review for stable offerings
• Immediate update when pricing changes
• Validation check after any schema modification

Stale schema creates trust problems. If your schema says $299 but your page shows $349, LLMs detect the mismatch and flag potential deception.

Does Service schema need pricing?

Service pricing is optional in schema because many services have variable pricing (depends on scope, customization, contract terms).

Options for service pricing:

Fixed pricing:

Copy"offers": {
  "@type": "Offer",
  "price": "5000.00",
  "priceCurrency": "USD"
}

Starting-at pricing:

Copy"offers": {
  "@type": "Offer",
  "priceSpecification": {
    "@type": "UnitPriceSpecification",
    "price": "2500.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "referenceQuantity": {
      "@type": "QuantitativeValue",
      "value": "1",
      "unitText": "project"
    }
  }
}

Contact for pricing:

Copy"offers": {
  "@type": "Offer",
  "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
  "url": "https://example.com/contact"
}

If pricing is genuinely variable based on client needs, omitting specific price from schema is acceptable. Don’t fabricate a price just to have schema completeness.

What about brand schema within Product?

The brand property links products to organizational entity.

Copy"brand": {
  "@type": "Brand",
  "name": "ScaleGrowth.Digital",
  "url": "https://scalegrowth.digital"
}

or linking directly to Organization:

Copy"brand": {
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "ScaleGrowth.Digital",
  "url": "https://scalegrowth.digital"
}

Brand property must use consistent entity name matching Organization schema. Don’t introduce name variations.

How do you validate Product/Service schema?

Use same validation tools as Organization schema, plus check that schema matches visible content.

Validation checklist:

•  Schema passes Google Rich Results Test without errors
•  Schema passes Schema.org validator
•  Prices in schema match prices displayed on page
•  Product name in schema matches H1 on page
•  Description is factual without marketing superlatives
•  All URLs in schema are valid and load correctly
•  Brand name matches Organization schema exactly
•  No subjective claims (“best,” “leading,” etc.)

ScaleGrowth.Digital, an AI-native consulting firm serving enterprise clients across industries, includes schema review in editorial workflow. “We’ve caught clients who put ‘award-winning’ in product descriptions and schema. Visible content is amber (requires criteria disclosure). Schema is red (absolute prohibition). Same words, different risk levels based on context.”