How do profile follower counts differ from following counts in markup?

Definition: In a ProfilePage person's markup, interactionStatistic with FollowAction represents the number of followers. agentInteractionStatistic with FollowAction represents the number of other accounts that the person follows.

Key facts

• Google's ProfilePage structured data documentation lists both properties as InteractionCounter values for a profile's Person or Organization.
• Under interactionStatistic, Google defines FollowAction as the number of followers.
• Under agentInteractionStatistic, Google defines FollowAction as the number of other accounts being followed.
• Schema.org describes agentInteractionStatistic as the number of completed interactions for an entity in the agent role, action and interaction context.
• Schema.org defines FollowAction as a unidirectional connection used to receive updates from an object.

What does each property count?

Google's ProfilePage documentation describes interactionStatistic as user statistics applied to the profile page entity. Its FollowAction value is the audience-side count: the number of accounts following the profile. The documentation says to include statistics about the platform hosting the profile page and gives an example that warns against referring to followers on the creator's home page.

agentInteractionStatistic describes the profile entity's own behaviour. For this property, Google's FollowAction definition is the number of other accounts being followed. The same FollowAction type therefore appears in both places, while the property changes whose activity the counter describes. The count belongs inside an InteractionCounter, with its value in userInteractionCount.

Why can the same FollowAction appear twice?

Schema.org's InteractionCounter definition describes interactionStatistic as the number of interactions for a CreativeWork, and also lists Person as a type on which the property can appear. It describes agentInteractionStatistic as completed interactions for an entity in a particular role, action and context. The two properties provide that role distinction: the profile is the object receiving follows in interactionStatistic, while the profile acts as the follower in agentInteractionStatistic.

Schema.org's FollowAction definition calls following a personal connection formed unidirectionally or asymmetrically to receive updates from an object. Its page also says that the connection is not necessarily reciprocal. A follower total and a following total can consequently differ even though both counters use FollowAction.

What does the markup look like?

Google's example places the follower counter in interactionStatistic and an own-behaviour counter in agentInteractionStatistic, both on the mainEntity person. The relevant JSON-LD excerpt is:

"interactionStatistic": [{
  "@type": "InteractionCounter",
  "interactionType": "https://schema.org/FollowAction",
  "userInteractionCount": 1
}],
"agentInteractionStatistic": {
  "@type": "InteractionCounter",
  "interactionType": "https://schema.org/WriteAction",
  "userInteractionCount": 2346
}

For a following total, keep the agentInteractionStatistic structure and use FollowAction as its interactionType, because Google's property table assigns that combination to the number of other accounts being followed. The page's example uses WriteAction there to show a post count, so the action type must match the statistic being represented.

How can you check the implementation?

Google says to validate the code with the Rich Results Test and fix critical errors. It also recommends deploying a few pages and using URL Inspection to test how Google sees them. The page must be accessible to Google and cannot be blocked by robots.txt, a noindex tag or login requirements.

Related terms

• Which profile pages qualify for Google's ProfilePage markup?
• How should profile markup represent a name and account handle?
• How can profile markup retain identity when a handle changes?
• Which profile changes belong in ProfilePage.dateModified?

FAQ

Which property represents followers?

Use interactionStatistic with an InteractionCounter whose interactionType is https://schema.org/FollowAction. Google defines that combination as the number of followers on the hosted platform.

Which property represents following?

Use agentInteractionStatistic with FollowAction. Google defines it as the number of other accounts being followed by the profile entity.

Can both counters appear on one profile?

Yes. Place them as separate InteractionCounter values on the profile's mainEntity, using the property that matches the side of the relationship you are counting.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "ProfilePage structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "InteractionCounter", August 2026
3. Schema.org, "FollowAction", August 2026

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