Online education platforms compete for visibility in increasingly crowded search results. Course schema markup enables your educational content to appear with enhanced displays showing provider information, pricing, and format details directly in Google’s search results. For course creators and learning platforms, this structured data separates professional presentation from invisible listings.
This guide covers Course schema implementation from fundamentals through advanced configurations: required properties, CourseInstance markup for scheduled sessions, provider entity connections, catalog page strategies, and the pricing structures that help learners find courses matching their budgets.
What Course Schema Communicates to Search Engines
Course schema tells Google your page describes an educational offering with defined learning objectives. This structured data enables Google to display course information in education-specific search features and match queries from learners seeking specific knowledge.
Google uses Course schema to populate:
- Education carousels in learning-related searches
- Rich snippets showing course provider and format
- Course comparison features in Google Search
- Knowledge panel entries for established learning platforms
Without schema markup, your course pages compete as generic content against platforms displaying full course details directly in search results.
| Schema Implementation | Search Display | Learner Experience |
|---|---|---|
| With Course schema | Provider name, format, pricing visible | Quick evaluation from SERP |
| Without schema | Standard blue link only | Must click to learn basics |
Nashville-based educators and learning platforms nationwide use Course schema to stand alongside major providers like Coursera and Udemy in search results, leveling visibility despite smaller marketing budgets.
Required Properties: The Foundation
Three properties must appear in every Course schema implementation. Missing these triggers validation errors and disqualifies your course from education-specific rich results.
name identifies the course. This should be the actual course title learners search for, not internal codes or abbreviated versions.
"name": "Introduction to Data Science with Python"description provides comprehensive information about the course content. This should explain what learners will gain, prerequisite knowledge, and course format. Google uses this for relevance matching against learner queries.
"description": "Learn the fundamentals of data science using Python. This course covers data manipulation with pandas, visualization with matplotlib, and introductory machine learning concepts. Suitable for programmers with basic Python experience."provider identifies the organization or person offering the course using nested Organization or Person schema:
"provider": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Tech Academy",
"sameAs": "https://techacademy.com"
}Include the sameAs property pointing to your official website or social profiles. This builds entity associations that support authority signals in Google’s systems.
CourseInstance: Scheduled Sessions and Offerings
Most courses run multiple times with different schedules, formats, or pricing. The CourseInstance schema captures these variations without duplicating the base course information.
Each CourseInstance represents one offering of the course:
"hasCourseInstance": [
{
"@type": "CourseInstance",
"courseMode": "online",
"courseWorkload": "PT10H",
"startDate": "2025-03-01",
"endDate": "2025-04-15"
}
]The courseMode property indicates delivery format with standardized values:
| courseMode | Format |
|---|---|
| online | Self-paced or live online delivery |
| onsite | In-person classroom instruction |
| blended | Combination of online and in-person |
courseWorkload expresses total time commitment in ISO 8601 duration format. PT10H means ten hours total; PT40H means forty hours.
startDate and endDate define the session period. For self-paced courses without fixed schedules, omit these properties rather than using placeholder dates.
Multiple instances on the same course page allow learners to see upcoming sessions:
"hasCourseInstance": [
{
"@type": "CourseInstance",
"name": "Spring 2025 Cohort",
"courseMode": "online",
"startDate": "2025-03-01"
},
{
"@type": "CourseInstance",
"name": "Summer 2025 Cohort",
"courseMode": "online",
"startDate": "2025-06-01"
}
]Instructor Information
Learners often search for courses by instructor name. The instructor property connects your course to Person entities:
"instructor": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Dr. Sarah Chen",
"jobTitle": "Professor of Computer Science",
"sameAs": "https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchen"
}For courses with multiple instructors:
"instructor": [
{
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Dr. Sarah Chen"
},
{
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Prof. Michael Torres"
}
]Instructor markup builds entity associations that may surface in knowledge panels and supports E-E-A-T signals for educational content. Well-known instructors with established online presence transfer authority to your course listings.
Pricing and Offers
The offers property communicates pricing through Offer schema nesting:
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"price": "299",
"priceCurrency": "USD",
"availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
"validFrom": "2025-01-01"
}For free courses, set price to “0”:
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"price": "0",
"priceCurrency": "USD"
}Subscription-based access uses a different structure:
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"category": "Subscription",
"price": "29",
"priceCurrency": "USD",
"description": "Monthly subscription for full library access"
}Multiple pricing tiers can be expressed as an array:
"offers": [
{
"@type": "Offer",
"name": "Self-paced access",
"price": "199",
"priceCurrency": "USD"
},
{
"@type": "Offer",
"name": "With certificate",
"price": "299",
"priceCurrency": "USD"
}
]Accurate pricing prevents learner frustration. If your course requires purchases beyond enrollment fees, mention this in the description rather than hiding costs.
Educational Level and Prerequisites
The educationalLevel property indicates intended audience:
"educationalLevel": "Intermediate"Common values include Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and specific academic levels like “Undergraduate” or “Graduate.”
Prerequisites appear in the coursePrerequisites property:
"coursePrerequisites": "Basic programming knowledge and familiarity with Python syntax"For formal prerequisite courses:
"coursePrerequisites": [
"Introduction to Programming",
"Statistics Fundamentals"
]These properties help learners self-select appropriate courses and reduce dropout from mismatched skill levels.
Learning Outcomes and Skills
The teaches property lists skills learners will gain:
"teaches": [
"Data manipulation with pandas",
"Data visualization with matplotlib",
"Basic machine learning concepts",
"Statistical analysis fundamentals"
]This property can also reference DefinedTerm for more structured skill representation:
"teaches": [
{
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Data Analysis",
"termCode": "data-analysis"
}
]Learning outcomes help Google match courses to skill-based queries like “learn data visualization” or “Python data analysis course.”
Course Catalog Pages
Educational platforms listing multiple courses benefit from ItemList schema wrapping individual course entries:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "ItemList",
"name": "Data Science Course Catalog",
"numberOfItems": 12,
"itemListElement": [
{
"@type": "ListItem",
"position": 1,
"url": "https://example.com/courses/intro-data-science"
},
{
"@type": "ListItem",
"position": 2,
"url": "https://example.com/courses/advanced-machine-learning"
}
]
}Each catalog entry points to a dedicated course page with complete Course schema. The catalog page uses ItemList to communicate collection structure.
For category pages organizing courses by topic, include relevant aggregation data:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "CollectionPage",
"name": "Programming Courses",
"description": "Learn programming from beginner to advanced levels",
"mainEntity": {
"@type": "ItemList",
"numberOfItems": 24,
"itemListElement": [/* course links */]
}
}Online Course Specifics
Self-paced online courses use specific configurations to communicate their format:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Course",
"name": "Python for Data Science",
"description": "Self-paced online course covering Python fundamentals for data analysis",
"provider": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Tech Academy"
},
"hasCourseInstance": {
"@type": "CourseInstance",
"courseMode": "online",
"courseWorkload": "PT20H"
},
"isAccessibleForFree": false,
"inLanguage": "en"
}The isAccessibleForFree boolean helps Google filter results for learners seeking free education.
inLanguage specifies the instruction language. For multilingual courses, use an array:
"inLanguage": ["en", "es"]Video-based courses can include aggregateRating for learner reviews:
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "4.7",
"ratingCount": "1842",
"reviewCount": "523"
}Only include ratings that reflect genuine learner feedback. Manipulated ratings violate structured data guidelines.
Common Implementation Mistakes
Missing provider information causes validation failures. Every course needs organizational attribution, even for individual instructors who should use Person schema.
Outdated CourseInstance dates signal stale content. Remove or update instances after sessions complete. Old start dates remaining in schema suggest abandoned pages.
Confusing Course and CourseInstance properties leads to misplaced data. Course-level properties describe what learners will learn; CourseInstance properties describe when and how they’ll learn it.
Non-course content with Course schema violates guidelines. Blog posts about courses, course marketing pages without enrollment capability, and informational content should not use Course schema.
Missing duration information reduces usefulness. Learners filter by time commitment; courseWorkload data enables this filtering.
| Mistake | Consequence | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No provider | Validation failure | Always include Organization or Person |
| Past dates | Stale signals | Update or remove old instances |
| Wrong schema level | Confusing data | Course = content, Instance = scheduling |
| Marketing pages | Guidelines violation | Only actual courses |
Validation and Monitoring
Google’s Rich Results Test validates Course schema before publishing. Test individual course pages to identify errors and warnings.
Search Console’s course enhancement report tracks:
- Valid courses displaying rich results
- Courses with warnings that may still appear
- Courses with errors excluded from enhanced display
- Specific error types affecting your listings
Monitor coverage reports after launching new courses or updating schema templates. Processing time varies, but validation errors should surface within days of indexing.
For learning platforms with extensive catalogs, automate schema validation as part of course publishing workflows. Catch errors before they impact learner discovery.
Complete Course Schema Example
A fully-implemented course schema incorporates all discussed elements:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Course",
"name": "Complete Data Science Bootcamp",
"description": "Master data science from fundamentals through advanced machine learning. This comprehensive course covers Python programming, statistical analysis, data visualization, and predictive modeling with real-world projects.",
"provider": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Tech Academy",
"sameAs": "https://techacademy.com",
"logo": "https://techacademy.com/logo.png"
},
"instructor": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Dr. Sarah Chen",
"jobTitle": "Lead Data Science Instructor"
},
"educationalLevel": "Intermediate",
"coursePrerequisites": "Basic Python programming experience",
"teaches": [
"Python for data analysis",
"Statistical modeling",
"Machine learning fundamentals",
"Data visualization"
],
"inLanguage": "en",
"hasCourseInstance": [
{
"@type": "CourseInstance",
"name": "Spring 2025 Cohort",
"courseMode": "online",
"courseWorkload": "PT80H",
"startDate": "2025-03-15",
"endDate": "2025-05-15"
}
],
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"price": "799",
"priceCurrency": "USD",
"availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
},
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "4.8",
"ratingCount": "2156"
}
}Adapt this structure to your educational offerings while maintaining required properties and keeping instance data current.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Course Structured Data Documentation, https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/course
- Schema.org: Course Type Specification, https://schema.org/Course
- Schema.org: CourseInstance Type Specification, https://schema.org/CourseInstance
Educational schema specifications evolve with online learning trends. Verify current requirements against Google’s documentation when implementing for production platforms.