What Is Course Schema? The Complete Guide (2026)

Two Course Schema Patterns

Greadme validates two Course schema patterns, each with a different structure and purpose:

Required Properties

Recommended Properties

CourseInstance: Scheduled Offerings

CourseInstance — a subtype of Event — represents a specific scheduled offering of a course at a particular time, location, and modality. A single course can have multiple instances (e.g., a January cohort and a March cohort).

Course List Carousel: ItemList Structure

The Course List carousel shows multiple courses from your site as a scrollable card row in Google Search. Requirements:

• Use ItemList as the root @type
• At least 3 ListItem objects — Greadme errors if fewer are present
• Each ListItem needs a sequential position (integer) and a unique item.url
• Duplicate URLs cause an error in Greadme

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "ItemList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 1,
      "item": {
        "@type": "Course",
        "url": "https://example.com/courses/python-intro",
        "name": "Introduction to Python Programming",
        "description": "Learn Python from scratch with hands-on projects.",
        "provider": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "name": "Code Academy Pro",
          "sameAs": "https://example.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 2,
      "item": {
        "@type": "Course",
        "url": "https://example.com/courses/data-science",
        "name": "Data Science with Python",
        "description": "Analyse real datasets using pandas, numpy, and scikit-learn.",
        "provider": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "name": "Code Academy Pro",
          "sameAs": "https://example.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 3,
      "item": {
        "@type": "Course",
        "url": "https://example.com/courses/machine-learning",
        "name": "Machine Learning Fundamentals",
        "description": "Build and evaluate ML models using Python and scikit-learn.",
        "provider": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "name": "Code Academy Pro",
          "sameAs": "https://example.com"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Individual Course Page Example

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Course",
  "name": "Advanced React Development",
  "description": "Master React hooks, performance patterns, and testing strategies.",
  "provider": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Frontend Masters",
    "sameAs": "https://example.com"
  },
  "educationalLevel": "Advanced",
  "inLanguage": "en",
  "coursePrerequisites": "Basic JavaScript and React knowledge",
  "hasCourseInstance": {
    "@type": "CourseInstance",
    "courseMode": "online",
    "startDate": "2026-07-01",
    "endDate": "2026-08-31",
    "instructor": {
      "@type": "Person",
      "name": "Alex Chen"
    },
    "offers": {
      "@type": "Offer",
      "category": "Paid",
      "price": 199,
      "priceCurrency": "USD"
    }
  }
}

Content Restrictions: What Course Names Cannot Contain

Google's content policy for Course schema is strictly enforced in the name field. The following all cause errors in Greadme:

Ineligible content types for Course schema altogether: degree overview pages (not a specific course), standalone exams with no instructional content, brief tutorial videos, and public events unrelated to a structured curriculum.

5 Common Course Schema Mistakes

1. Fewer Than 3 Courses in the ItemList

The Course List carousel requires at least 3 courses. Greadme throws an error for lists with fewer. If you only have 2 courses, use individual Course schema on each page instead of an ItemList — do not pad the list with duplicates.

2. Promotional Language in the Course Name

The namefield must contain only the course title. Terms like "best", "#1", "% off", "free", or prices cause Greadme errors. These are Google policy violations, not style suggestions.

3. Missing provider.name

The provider object without a name property causes an error in Greadme. The provider name is what Google uses to identify the institution in search results — it must be present and accurate.

4. Using an Invalid courseMode

Greadme accepts "online", "onsite", and "blended" for courseMode. Other values trigger a warning. Do not use free-text descriptions like "self-paced" or "live sessions" in this field — those belong in the description.

5. Duplicate URLs in ItemList

Every course in the ItemList carousel must have a unique url. Greadme errors on duplicate URLs. If the same course appears at multiple URLs on your site, canonicalize first, then mark up only the canonical URL.

Course Schema and AI Search Visibility

Despite the deprecation of course-info rich results, Course schema remains highly valuable for AI-driven search. When someone asks "What are the best online Python courses?" in ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews, these systems parse structured data to identify courses, their providers, levels, and pricing. A well-implemented Course schema makes your course a structured, machine-readable entity — significantly more likely to be cited than a page with only prose content.

Voice assistants follow the same pattern: "Hey Google, find me a beginner React course" pulls from structured course data. The educationalLevel, provider.name, and description fields are the most impactful for AI and voice discoverability.

How to Validate Your Course Schema

Paste your course page URL into Greadme to validate your Course schema. Greadme automatically detects whether you're using a single Course or an ItemList carousel and applies the appropriate rules. It checks course name content policy, provider structure, CourseInstance validity, duplicate URL detection in carousels, and the 3-course minimum requirement for the Course List feature.