How can Schema.org about identify the subject of a page?

Definition: Schema.org's about relationship connects a CreativeWork, including a WebPage, to the Thing that is the work's subject matter. In JSON-LD, the property is placed on the work and its value describes the entity or topic the page discusses.

Key facts

• Schema.org defines about as “The subject matter of an object” in its property definition.
• The property is used on CreativeWork and expects a value of type Thing; its inverse property is subjectOf, according to the same definition.
• Schema.org describes a WebPage as a web page and says that properties found outside an itemscope are assumed to be about the page in its WebPage definition.
• mainEntity identifies the primary entity described in a page or other CreativeWork, which gives it a narrower role than the general subject relationship in the mainEntity definition.
• Google says structured data provides explicit clues about page meaning, while its Search Central documentation is definitive for Google Search behaviour in its structured data introduction.

What does about identify on a WebPage?

The about value is the subject matter of the work that contains it. Schema.org's about property definition lists CreativeWork among the types that can use the property and Thing as its expected value type. The WebPage definition lists about among the properties inherited from CreativeWork, so a page can connect itself to an entity that its text discusses.

Schema.org also defines the reverse direction. If a Thing has a subjectOf value, that value is a CreativeWork or an Event about the thing. The two properties describe the same relationship from opposite ends: the page points to its subject with about, while the subject points back with subjectOf.

How is about different from mainEntity?

about describes the subject matter of a work. Schema.org's mainEntity definition identifies the primary entity described in a page or other CreativeWork, and its inverse is mainEntityOfPage. Use the first relationship for the page's subject relationship and the second when the markup needs to identify which entity is primary.

Schema.org's about page gives an Article example whose about value is an Event. The relationship is expressed inside the Article object:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Article",
  "name": "Apple announces iPhone SE",
  "about": {
    "@type": "Event",
    "name": "Apple's March 21 Announcements"
  }
}

The example shows the value as a nested entity with its own type and name. A WebPage can use the same property shape because WebPage is a CreativeWork subtype.

How should a website publish the relationship?

Schema.org's getting-started guide says that its vocabulary can be used with Microdata, RDFa, or JSON-LD. Google Search Central's structured data introduction describes structured data as a standardized format that provides information about a page and classifies its content. It recommends JSON-LD when a site's setup allows it, and describes JSON-LD as a script-based format that makes nested data items easier to express.

The about object should describe information that the page presents. Google's guidance says that structured data is coded in-page, describes the content of that page, and should not describe information that is invisible to visitors even when that information is accurate. The same documentation says that schema.org contains attributes that may be useful to other search engines, services, tools, and platforms, while Google Search Central defines Google Search behaviour.

How can you check the markup?

Inspect the structured data object representing the page and confirm that about points to the intended Thing. Check the page content against the entity named in the nested object, then validate the JSON-LD syntax with a structured-data validator. Google documents the Rich Results Test as a tool for validating structured data and says that feature eligibility depends on the relevant Search documentation.

Related terms

• Schema.org @id
• Schema.org sameAs
• WebPage structured data
• How does Schema.org validation differ from Google's Rich Results Test?

FAQ

What type can be the value of about?

Schema.org's about definition lists Thing as the expected value type for about. A nested object can therefore identify the subject with its own Schema.org type and properties.

When should you use mainEntity instead?

Use mainEntity when you need to identify the primary entity described in the page or other CreativeWork. Its inverse property is mainEntityOfPage, as stated in Schema.org's definition.

Does about create a Google Search feature?

about supplies a subject relationship in Schema.org structured data. Google says that its Search Central documentation defines Google Search behaviour, so any feature-specific eligibility needs to be checked in the documentation for that feature.

Sources

1. Schema.org, "about", 16 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "WebPage", 16 September 2026
3. Schema.org, "mainEntity", 16 September 2026
4. Schema.org, "Getting started with schema.org using Microdata", 16 September 2026
5. Google Search Central, "Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search", 10 December 2025

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