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AI Search / AEO / GEO
RGM° · Training

Schema Markup for AI Search

Structured data feeds LLM extraction. Article, FAQPage, Product, Person, Organization, BreadcrumbList — with JSON-LD examples and validation discipline.

What you will learn

  1. Why schema markup matters more in AI search
  2. Schema fundamentals: JSON-LD, vocabulary, validation
  3. The schema types AI systems use most
  4. Article, NewsArticle, BlogPosting
  5. FAQPage and HowTo schemas
  6. Product schema and ecommerce
  7. Person and Organization schemas
  8. BreadcrumbList and SiteNavigation
  9. Advanced playbook
  10. Common mistakes
  11. Operating checklist

Why schema matters more

Schema.org structured data has been around since 2011. In traditional SEO, schema enables rich results (star ratings, recipe images, FAQ accordions). In AI search, schema becomes a primary source of structured information LLMs consume to understand what your content is about, who wrote it, and what facts it contains.

AI systems are pattern recognizers. Unstructured prose is harder to extract reliable facts from than structured schema. Two pages with identical content but one with comprehensive schema markup have different AI citation rates — the structured one wins.

Schema fundamentals

Schema types AI systems use most

Schema typeUse case
Article / NewsArticle / BlogPostingMost editorial content
FAQPageQuestion-and-answer pages
HowToStep-by-step procedural content (note: Google reduced HowTo in 2023–24)
ProductEcommerce product pages
Review / AggregateRatingReviews and ratings
PersonAuthor bio pages; staff bios
OrganizationAbout page; org-level entity definition
LocalBusinessBrick-and-mortar businesses
BreadcrumbListNavigation breadcrumbs
EventEvents with dates, locations
VideoObjectVideos embedded on pages
RecipeRecipe content
CourseEducational courses
JobPostingJob listings
SoftwareApplicationSoftware products

Article, NewsArticle, BlogPosting

The most common content schema. Required and recommended properties:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Article title",
  "description": "Article summary",
  "datePublished": "2024-06-15",
  "dateModified": "2024-07-20",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Author Name",
    "url": "https://example.com/authors/author-name"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Publisher Name",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  },
  "image": "https://example.com/article-image.jpg",
  "mainEntityOfPage": "https://example.com/article-url"
}

NewsArticle vs BlogPosting vs Article

FAQPage and HowTo

FAQPage

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is X?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "X is Y because Z…"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does X work?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "X works by…"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Critical: FAQ schema content must match visible page content. Don't add FAQs in schema that aren't on the page.

HowTo

Google reduced HowTo rich result support in 2023–24. Still useful for AI consumption but less visible in search results.

Product schema

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Product Name",
  "description": "Product description",
  "image": ["url1.jpg", "url2.jpg"],
  "brand": {
    "@type": "Brand",
    "name": "Brand Name"
  },
  "sku": "SKU-001",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "79.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "url": "https://example.com/product"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.5",
    "reviewCount": "127"
  }
}

Person and Organization schemas

Underused but increasingly important for entity recognition and AI search.

Person (for author pages)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Author Name",
  "jobTitle": "Senior Editor",
  "worksFor": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Publisher Name"
  },
  "url": "https://example.com/authors/author-name",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://linkedin.com/in/author-name",
    "https://twitter.com/authorname",
    "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Author_Name"
  ]
}

Organization (for about page)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Organization Name",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "foundingDate": "2015-01-01",
  "founders": [{ "@type": "Person", "name": "Founder Name" }],
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Main St",
    "addressLocality": "City",
    "addressRegion": "State",
    "postalCode": "12345",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "telephone": "+1-555-555-5555",
    "contactType": "customer service"
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/example",
    "https://twitter.com/example",
    "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12345"
  ]
}

Breadcrumbs improve navigation and AI understanding of site hierarchy.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://example.com" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Category", "item": "https://example.com/category" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Article Title" }
  ]
}

Advanced playbook

Common mistakes

Operating checklist

Sources and further reading

Part of the AI Search / AEO / GEO series.