Structured Data After the Core Update: What B2B Websites Need Now

In March 2026, Google changed its rules for structured data. FAQ markup is clearly losing its effectiveness. At the same time, another schema type is gaining massive importance: the Entity schema. Here’s what this means for your B2B website and what you can do now.

What happened?

The Google Core Update from March 2026 didn’t just shift rankings. It also changed how Google handles structured data. Structured data (also known as schema markup) is machine-readable information in your website’s source code. It helps search engines better understand a page’s content.

Two changes are relevant for website operators:

1. Google displays FAQ results in search results significantly less often. According to industry analyses, impressions for FAQ rich results have dropped by nearly half.
2. Entity schema (Organization and Person) has become the most important schema type. Google now actively uses this data to verify sources for AI answers.

For B2B companies in manufacturing, medical technology, or industry, this may sound abstract at first. But it directly affects how visible your website is in Google Search.

What has changed with FAQ schema

For years, FAQ schema was a popular way to gain more space in search results. Companies added an FAQ section with schema markup to nearly every page. Google then displayed these questions as expandable results directly in the search results.

This now works only to a limited extent. Google displays FAQ rich results almost exclusively for government and medical websites. For all other sites, these results appear only rarely.

This doesn’t mean you have to delete your FAQ markup. Google doesn’t penalize it. But the visible benefit in search results is gone for most company websites. The questions and answers naturally remain useful for visitors to the site. Only the extra space in the search results is gone.

My recommendation: Keep FAQ sections on pages where they make sense in terms of content. Leave the markup in place. But don’t build any new pages just for FAQ Rich Results. It’s better to focus your energy on Entity Schema.

Why Entity Schema Is Crucial Now

Entity schema describes who is behind a website. It connects your company and your people to external profiles: LinkedIn, business registries, industry directories. Google uses these connections to uniquely identify entities.

This used to be a niche topic for SEO specialists. Since the March 2026 Core Update, it has been mandatory for any website that wants to be cited in AI answers. Google AI Mode (AI-powered search) uses structured data to verify sources. If Google cannot uniquely identify your company, you will be rejected as a source.

Specifically, there are two schema types:

Organization Schema

The Organization Schema describes your business: name, address, contact information, founding date, industry. The most important part is the sameAs property. It links your business to external profiles.

I see this time and again in my projects: websites lack an Organization Schema. Or they have one, but without sameAs references. It’s like a business card without a phone number. It exists, but it’s useless.

For a B2B company in Upper Swabia, I recommend the following sameAs references:

• LinkedIn company profile
• Commercial Register entry
• Google Business Profile
• Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) business directory or relevant associations

Person schema (authors and executives)

The Person Schema describes the people behind the company. This is particularly relevant for B2B websites because industry decision-makers want to know who they are dealing with.

Google uses the Person Schema with sameAs references to verify authors of technical articles. Anyone who publishes blog posts or technical articles benefits from this. AI search cites sources more frequently when the author is recognized as a verified entity.

For Person Schema, I recommend:

• Full name and job title
• "worksFor" reference to the Organization Schema
• sameAs references to LinkedIn profile and, if applicable, professional portal profiles
• knowsAbout property with the areas of expertise

What this means specifically for B2B websites

Most of the B2B websites I manage have neglected structured data. Many have no schema markup at all. Others have only the bare minimum: a few breadcrumbs and perhaps an article schema from the CMS plugin.

After the March 2026 Core Update, that’s no longer enough. Priorities have shifted.

What used to work

• FAQ schema on every page for more space in search results
• Review schema on comparison sites
• How-to schema for instructions

What is now a priority

• Organization schema with complete sameAs references
• Person schema for authors and management
• Article schema with author links for each blog post
• Service schema for service pages
• LocalBusiness schema for regional businesses

The shift is clear: away from Schema as a tool for prettier search results, and toward Schema as a trust signal for Google’s AI.

My 5-Point Checklist for B2B Websites

I use this checklist in my own projects. It is specifically designed for B2B companies in manufacturing, medical technology, and industry.

1. Check or set up the Organization Schema

Every company website needs an Organization Schema on the homepage. It must include: name, address, phone number, email, year founded, logo URL, and at least three sameAs references to external profiles.

2. Person schema for management and authors

Every person mentioned by name on the website needs a Person Schema. This applies to the About Us page, blog post authors, and contact persons on service pages.

3. Service schema for services

Every service page gets a service schema with a description, target audience, and provider. This helps Google categorize your offering by topic.

4. Check old FAQ and review schemas

Don’t delete it, but check: Does the FAQ schema match the main content of the page? If the FAQ section is just an appendix and the page actually covers a different topic, the markup is no longer useful. In that case, you can remove it to keep the code clean.

5. Check the schema with the Google Rich Results Test

After every change, check the markup using Google’s Rich Results Test. The tool displays errors and warnings. Additionally, check in Google Search Console under “Improvements” to ensure the data is being captured correctly.

What I’ve seen in practice

Over the past two weeks, I’ve checked three B2B websites for their structured data. None of the three had an Organization schema. Two had FAQ schema on pages where the main content was on a completely different topic. One had no schema markup at all.

This is not an isolated case. Structured data is often missing, especially on TYPO3 websites. Unlike WordPress with Yoast or RankMath, there is no standard plugin for automatic schema markup. In TYPO3, a developer or integrator must set this up manually.

The effort required for a clean schema implementation is four to eight hours. This includes Organization schema, Person schema, Article schema for the blog, and Service schema for the most important service pages. After that, it requires little maintenance because the templates automatically output the data.

What this means for AI visibility

Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity: All major AI systems use structured data to select and cite sources. Entities recognized as verified have a better chance of appearing in AI responses.

This is relevant for B2B companies because decision-makers are increasingly using AI tools for research. When a medical technology executive enters “CNC milling machine maintenance service provider Lake Constance” into an AI search, the system checks which sources are trustworthy. A company with a clean organization schema and verified sameAs references has an advantage over a company without structured data.

This is no guarantee of visibility. But it is a foundation that can be established with minimal effort.

In summary

Structured data is more important than ever following the March 2026 Core Update. But the strategy has changed. Those who use Schema Markup solely for prettier search results are missing out on its true value. That value now lies in entity recognition and AI visibility.

Three things you can check this week:

1. Does your website have an Organization schema with sameAs references?
2. Are authors and contact persons tagged with the Person schema?
3. Does your existing FAQ schema match the main content of the respective page?

If you’re unsure about any of these questions: We can sort it out in just a few hours.

Want to know how your website stacks up in terms of structured data? I’ll check it for you. Data-driven, no empty promises. Get in touch.

Dennis Huettner
Waterproof Web Wizard GmbH

Sources

1. Digital Applied: Schema Markup After March 2026: Structured Data Strategies (March 2026) digitalapplied.com
2. Google Search Central: Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results developers.google.com
3. Jon Goodey: Google's Structured Data Changes in 2025 and 2026 (February 2026) linkedin.com