GEO & AI
Schema Markup Guide: Describe Yourself to Google and AI with Structured Data
What is schema.org structured data, how do you write JSON-LD, which schema types matter for businesses and how do you test them?
Why JSON-LD?
JSON-LD is added as a script block independent of your HTML; it doesn't affect design, is easy to maintain and is the format Google recommends.
The most important schema types for businesses
- Organization / LocalBusiness: who you are, address, contact, social profiles
- Service: your services and service area
- Product and Offer: product, price and stock
- FAQPage: frequently asked questions
- Article / BlogPosting: blog posts and dates
- BreadcrumbList: page hierarchy
Common mistakes
- Adding information to the schema that isn't visible on the page
- Leaving required fields (e.g. name, offers for Product) empty
- Conflicting multiple Organization definitions
- Invalid JSON making the whole block unreadable
Example: JSON-LD for a local business
Basic schema for a service business includes name, logo, address, phone, opening hours, service areas and social profiles. This information must match the visible page content and your Google Business Profile exactly.
- @type: LocalBusiness (or a more specific subtype such as ProfessionalService)
- name, url, logo, image
- address (PostalAddress) and geo (GeoCoordinates)
- telephone, email, openingHoursSpecification
- areaServed: the cities and districts you serve
- sameAs: Instagram, LinkedIn and other official profiles
Linking schema with @graph
Linking Organization, WebSite, WebPage, Service and BreadcrumbList on the same page in one @graph with @id references clearly tells search engines and AI systems 'this organization provides this service, and this page belongs to that site'. Instead of repeating company details on every page, you point to one definition.
Test before publishing
- Validate JSON syntax; a single comma error invalidates the whole block.
- Check that required fields are filled.
- Make sure URLs are absolute and dates are ISO 8601.
- Verify that schema information is visible on the page.
- After launch, watch the enhancements reports in Search Console.
Schema's role in AI search
Structured data helps language models recognize your brand as a correct entity: it states clearly what you offer, where you are and which questions you answer. FAQPage and Service schema in particular provide clear facts that can be quoted in AI answers.
Frequently asked questions
Does adding schema directly improve rankings?
It isn't a direct ranking factor, but rich results raise click-through and help search engines understand content correctly.
Can one page have multiple schema types?
Yes. With @graph you can link Organization, WebPage, Service and FAQPage in a single block.