# SpeakableSpecification - Schema.org Type

> Source: https://schema.org/SpeakableSpecification
> Extracted: 2026-02-16T22:01:11.135Z

---

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A SpeakableSpecification indicates (typically via [xpath](https://schema.org/xpath) or [cssSelector](https://schema.org/cssSelector)) sections of a document that are highlighted as particularly [speakable](https://schema.org/speakable). Instances of this type are expected to be used primarily as values of the [speakable](https://schema.org/speakable) property.

Property

Expected Type

Description

Properties from [SpeakableSpecification](https://schema.org/SpeakableSpecification "SpeakableSpecification")

`[cssSelector](https://schema.org/cssSelector "cssSelector")`

[CssSelectorType](https://schema.org/CssSelectorType "CssSelectorType")

A CSS selector, e.g. of a [SpeakableSpecification](https://schema.org/SpeakableSpecification) or [WebPageElement](https://schema.org/WebPageElement). In the latter case, multiple matches within a page can constitute a single conceptual "Web page element".

`[xpath](https://schema.org/xpath "xpath")`

[XPathType](https://schema.org/XPathType "XPathType")

An XPath, e.g. of a [SpeakableSpecification](https://schema.org/SpeakableSpecification) or [WebPageElement](https://schema.org/WebPageElement). In the latter case, multiple matches within a page can constitute a single conceptual "Web page element".

Properties from [Thing](https://schema.org/Thing "Thing")

`[additionalType](https://schema.org/additionalType "additionalType")`

[Text](https://schema.org/Text "Text")  or  
[URL](https://schema.org/URL "URL")

An additional type for the item, typically used for adding more specific types from external vocabularies in microdata syntax. This is a relationship between something and a class that the thing is in. Typically the value is a URI-identified RDF class, and in this case corresponds to the use of rdf:type in RDF. Text values can be used sparingly, for cases where useful information can be added without their being an appropriate schema to reference. In the case of text values, the class label should follow the schema.org [style guide](https://schema.org/docs/styleguide.html).

`[alternateName](https://schema.org/alternateName "alternateName")`

[Text](https://schema.org/Text "Text")

An alias for the item.

`[description](https://schema.org/description "description")`

[Text](https://schema.org/Text "Text")  or  
[TextObject](https://schema.org/TextObject "TextObject")

A description of the item.

`[disambiguatingDescription](https://schema.org/disambiguatingDescription "disambiguatingDescription")`

[Text](https://schema.org/Text "Text")

A sub property of description. A short description of the item used to disambiguate from other, similar items. Information from other properties (in particular, name) may be necessary for the description to be useful for disambiguation.

`[identifier](https://schema.org/identifier "identifier")`

[PropertyValue](https://schema.org/PropertyValue "PropertyValue")  or  
[Text](https://schema.org/Text "Text")  or  
[URL](https://schema.org/URL "URL")

The identifier property represents any kind of identifier for any kind of [Thing](https://schema.org/Thing), such as ISBNs, GTIN codes, UUIDs etc. Schema.org provides dedicated properties for representing many of these, either as textual strings or as URL (URI) links. See [background notes](https://schema.org/docs/datamodel.html#identifierBg) for more details.

`[image](https://schema.org/image "image")`

[ImageObject](https://schema.org/ImageObject "ImageObject")  or  
[URL](https://schema.org/URL "URL")

An image of the item. This can be a [URL](https://schema.org/URL) or a fully described [ImageObject](https://schema.org/ImageObject).

`[mainEntityOfPage](https://schema.org/mainEntityOfPage "mainEntityOfPage")`

[CreativeWork](https://schema.org/CreativeWork "CreativeWork")  or  
[URL](https://schema.org/URL "URL")

Indicates a page (or other CreativeWork) for which this thing is the main entity being described. See [background notes](https://schema.org/docs/datamodel.html#mainEntityBackground) for details.  
Inverse property: [mainEntity](https://schema.org/mainEntity "mainEntity")

`[name](https://schema.org/name "name")`

[Text](https://schema.org/Text "Text")

The name of the item.

`[owner](https://schema.org/owner "owner")`

[Organization](https://schema.org/Organization "Organization")  or  
[Person](https://schema.org/Person "Person")

A person or organization who owns this Thing.  
Inverse property: [owns](https://schema.org/owns "owns")

`[potentialAction](https://schema.org/potentialAction "potentialAction")`

[Action](https://schema.org/Action "Action")

Indicates a potential Action, which describes an idealized action in which this thing would play an 'object' role.

`[sameAs](https://schema.org/sameAs "sameAs")`

[URL](https://schema.org/URL "URL")

URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity. E.g. the URL of the item's Wikipedia page, Wikidata entry, or official website.

`[subjectOf](https://schema.org/subjectOf "subjectOf")`

[CreativeWork](https://schema.org/CreativeWork "CreativeWork")  or  
[Event](https://schema.org/Event "Event")

A CreativeWork or Event about this Thing.  
Inverse property: [about](https://schema.org/about "about")

`[url](https://schema.org/url "url")`

[URL](https://schema.org/URL "URL")

URL of the item.

  

Property

On Types

Description

[speakable](https://schema.org/speakable "speakable")

[Article](https://schema.org/Article "Article")  or  
[WebPage](https://schema.org/WebPage "WebPage")

Indicates sections of a Web page that are particularly 'speakable' in the sense of being highlighted as being especially appropriate for text-to-speech conversion. Other sections of a page may also be usefully spoken in particular circumstances; the 'speakable' property serves to indicate the parts most likely to be generally useful for speech.

The *speakable* property can be repeated an arbitrary number of times, with three kinds of possible 'content-locator' values:

1.) *id-value* URL references - uses *id-value* of an element in the page being annotated. The simplest use of *speakable* has (potentially relative) URL values, referencing identified sections of the document concerned.

2.) CSS Selectors - addresses content in the annotated page, e.g. via class attribute. Use the [cssSelector](https://schema.org/cssSelector) property.

3.) XPaths - addresses content via XPaths (assuming an XML view of the content). Use the [xpath](https://schema.org/xpath) property.

For more sophisticated markup of speakable sections beyond simple ID references, either CSS selectors or XPath expressions to pick out document section(s) as speakable. For this we define a supporting type, [SpeakableSpecification](https://schema.org/SpeakableSpecification) which is defined to be a possible value of the *speakable* property.

#### Source

[https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1389](https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1389)

  

### Examples

Example notes or example HTML without markup.

An example of 'speakable' markup (JSON-LD only, initially).

Example encoded as [JSON-LD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON-LD) in a HTML script tag.

{
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "WebPage",
"name": "Jane Doe's homepage",
"speakable":
{
"@type": "SpeakableSpecification",
"cssSelector": \["headline", "summary"\]
},
"url": "http://www.janedoe.com"
}

Structured representation of the JSON-LD example.

Example notes or example HTML without markup.

An example of speakable markup in Microdata in HTML head section.

Example encoded as [Microdata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdata_\(HTML\)) embedded in HTML.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head rel="home" href="/" itemid=""  itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/SpeakableSpecification">
<title>Example showing complex structures in HTML head</title>
<meta itemprop="cssSelector" content=".title" />
<meta itemprop="xpath" content="/html/body/h3" />
</head>
<body>
<h1 class="title">Complex Microdata in HTML head</h1>
<p>...</p>
</body>
</html>