DiscussionForumPosting is a Schema.org type for a post in a forum or similar discussion. Google introduced documentation for it in late 2023, alongside ProfilePage, to help it identify first-hand discussion content for features such as Discussions and forums. Comments become nested Comment items, and interaction statistics can show likes and replies.
Markup outline
A thread is a DiscussionForumPosting with author, datePublished, and text, image or video. Replies go in comment as Comment items, each with its own author and date. Interaction counts use interactionStatistic with InteractionCounter. Google recommends using it for forum-style threads and QAPage for question-and-answer formats.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DiscussionForumPosting",
"headline": "Best way to model multi-tenant billing?",
"text": "We are moving from per-seat to usage pricing and...",
"author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "rkhan",
"url": "https://forum.wyvernholt.example/u/rkhan" },
"datePublished": "2026-08-14T11:20:00Z",
"comment": [{ "@type": "Comment", "text": "We used metered events...",
"author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "tsoto" },
"datePublished": "2026-08-14T12:05:00Z" }]
}Who should use it
SaaS companies running community forums, customer groups or public idea boards fit the type well. It is not for the company's own blog posts or announcements, which are articles. Google's guidelines expect user-generated discussion.
Platform support
Many forum platforms output this markup by default. Check before adding your own, and confirm that paginated threads, deleted posts and anonymous users are handled sensibly.
Example
A customer community
Wyvernholt, a billing SaaS, hosts a customer forum on a subdomain. The forum software emits DiscussionForumPosting markup with author profile links, and the profile pages emit ProfilePage. The team confirms both in the Rich Results Test and leaves the defaults in place.
Common mistakes
Marking up the company blog as forum posts
Editorial content is not a forum discussion. Use Article or BlogPosting.
Questions
No vendor has documented that. It helps Google classify discussion content; any effect on AI features is unknown.
