STRUCTURED DATA · SEO GLOSSARY
MedicalOrganization Schema
The schema.org type hierarchy for healthcare organisations — MedicalOrganization (parent) with subtypes including MedicalClinic, Hospital, Dentist, Optician, Pharmacy, DiagnosticLab, and Physician. Each subtype inherits LocalBusiness properties and adds healthcare-specific properties like medicalSpecialty and availableService.
Definition
`MedicalOrganization` is the schema.org parent type for healthcare-related organisations and businesses. The type hierarchy: `Thing → Organization → MedicalOrganization` — with healthcare-specific subtypes: **`MedicalClinic`** — for GP surgeries, specialist outpatient clinics, and multi-physician private practices. **`Hospital`** — for full-service inpatient and emergency care facilities. **`Dentist`** — for dental practices; also accepts `MedicalClinic` for mixed dental practices. **`Optician`** — for optometry practices. **`Pharmacy`** — for dispensing pharmacies. **`DiagnosticLab`** — for pathology and diagnostic imaging facilities. **`Physician`** — for individual medical practitioners (sometimes used for solo practices). All `MedicalOrganization` subtypes inherit `LocalBusiness` properties: `address`, `geo`, `telephone`, `openingHoursSpecification`, `aggregateRating`. Healthcare-specific additional properties: **`medicalSpecialty`** — the medical specialty or specialties practised. Schema.org provides a controlled vocabulary (MedicalSpecialty): `GeneralPractice`, `Dermatology`, `Cardiology`, `Pediatrics`, `Orthopedics`, `Psychiatry`. **`availableService`** — specific medical services or procedures available at this location, as `MedicalProcedure` objects. **`areaServed`** — geographic areas from which patients are accepted (important for practices not in the centre of their query market). **`hasMap`** — link to the Google Maps listing for the practice location. Choosing the correct subtype matters: `Dentist` for dental practices, `Optician` for optometry, `Hospital` for hospitals — using the generic `MedicalOrganization` type misses the subtype-specific features and signals.
Why it matters for SEO
Medical organization schema is the foundation for knowledge panel features in healthcare local search: the knowledge panel for a GP surgery or specialist clinic can display hours, specialty, appointment booking link, and star rating — all populated from correctly implemented `MedicalClinic` JSON-LD. Missing `medicalSpecialty` means the practice\'s schema has no explicit specialty signal for specialty-modified queries ("NHS dermatologist London"). Missing `availableService` means the practice\'s specific procedure offering isn\'t machine-readable. For multi-specialty practices, both `medicalSpecialty` array and `availableService` array allow complete specialty coverage.
How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this
DeepSEOAnalysis identifies the MedicalOrganization subtype from page schema and validates type-specific properties: `medicalSpecialty` (checking schema.org vocabulary alignment), `availableService` (presence and structure as MedicalProcedure objects), `areaServed` (geographic coverage declaration), `aggregateRating` (if patient reviews are displayed), and `openingHoursSpecification` (24-hour format). Server-rendering is verified for all schema blocks.
Useful tools and resources
GLOSSARY
Related terms
technical
Healthcare SEO
SEO applied to medical practices, clinics, hospitals, and allied health providers — characterised by YMYL content standards requiring physician authorship and clinical review, Physician/MedicalOrganization schema for local search visibility, patient review acquisition under regulatory constraints, and competition between local service queries (where practices can compete) and health information queries (dominated by aggregators).
Read definition →structured data
Physician Schema
The schema.org type for individual medical doctors — Physician, a subtype of MedicalOrganization — with properties including medicalSpecialty (using schema.org\'s controlled vocabulary), worksFor (linking to the practice entity), availableService (procedures performed), and alumniOf (medical school). Enables individual doctor knowledge panel features and physician-specific search result enhancements.
Read definition →structured data
LocalBusiness Schema
LocalBusiness schema is a Schema.org structured data type that describes a local business — name, address, phone, hours, geo coordinates, and more — enabling rich Knowledge Panel and Local Pack displays in Google Search. It is the foundation of structured data for local SEO.
Read definition →structured data
Professional Service Schema
Schema.org structured data for licensed professional service providers — including Attorney (legal), Physician (medical), Dentist (dental), AccountingService (financial), FinancialService, and other LocalBusiness subtypes for regulated professionals. These types add profession-specific properties to the LocalBusiness foundation that enable knowledge panel features and local search relevance for professional service queries.
Read definition →structured data
openingHoursSpecification (Schema Property)
The schema.org property on LocalBusiness (and subtypes including Restaurant) that specifies when a business is open — required for accurate hours display in the Google knowledge panel, local pack listings, and "open now" filtering. Uses OpeningHoursSpecification objects with dayOfWeek, opens, and closes in 24-hour format.
Read definition →See how your site scores on MedicalOrganization Schema.
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