The speakable property, with its SpeakableSpecification type, identifies sections of an article that are suitable for being read aloud by voice assistants. Google introduced it as a beta for news publishers in English in the US, for use with Google Assistant. It points to sections using CSS selectors or XPath. Its practical reach has always been narrow, and its future is unclear as Google shifts voice features from Assistant to Gemini.
How it works
Speakable is added to a WebPage or Article, pointing at elements such as the headline and summary. Google's guidance asked publishers to pick concise sections of about 20 to 30 seconds of audio, and to avoid content like captions or datelines that make little sense spoken.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebPage",
"name": "Q3 product update",
"speakable": {
"@type": "SpeakableSpecification",
"cssSelector": [".headline", ".summary"]
},
"url": "https://www.example.com/news/q3-update"
}Should a SaaS site use it?
Google limits the feature to news content from publishers, and it has remained a beta. A SaaS blog will not get a documented benefit from it. Some writers suggest it could signal quotable passages to AI systems; no search or AI vendor has documented that use, so treat it as speculation.
Example
A news site, not a SaaS blog
Rushwater News, a trade publication covering cloud software, adds speakable markup pointing at the headline and standfirst of each story. A SaaS vendor covered by Rushwater has no reason to copy this on its own blog.
Common mistakes
Treating it as an AI citation lever
There is no documented evidence that AI systems use speakable. Spend effort on clear content instead.
Questions
Google's documentation still describes it as a beta for eligible news publishers. Check the current page, since Assistant-related features are changing.
