Schema Markup
A vocabulary of tags (schemas) that help search engines and AI understand content context. Part of Schema.org standards.
What is Schema Markup?
Schema markup refers to structured data written using the Schema.org vocabulary. Schema.org is a collaborative project, founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex, that maintains a shared set of types (Organization, Person, Product, Article, Event, FAQPage and hundreds more) and the properties each type can carry. When people say a page "has schema", they mean it includes markup declaring one or more of these types, most often in JSON-LD.
The vocabulary is hierarchical. Every type descends from Thing, so a SoftwareApplication is a kind of CreativeWork which is a kind of Thing, and it inherits properties from each level. Choosing the most specific type that accurately describes the content gives engines the most information: SoftwareApplication with applicationCategory and offers says more than a generic Product.
Search engines use a subset of the vocabulary to produce rich results, and Google documents which types and properties are eligible. AI engines are not limited to that subset; any accurate markup that clarifies entities and relationships can help them interpret a page. The guiding rule is the same for both: mark up what is genuinely on the page, use the most specific applicable type, and keep the values identical to the visible content.
Why it matters for AI search
Schema markup is the shared language in which a site can state its facts unambiguously to every engine at once. For GEO the highest-value uses are describing the organisation and its official profiles, describing products with accurate offers and features, attributing articles to real authors, and exposing FAQ content as explicit question-and-answer pairs. Each reduces the chance an engine misidentifies the brand or invents details, and each reinforces the consistency that source attestation rewards.
Related terms
Structured Data
Standardized code (usually JSON-LD) that helps search engines and AI understand your content. Includes schemas for Organization, Product, Article, FAQ, etc.
JSON-LD
JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. The preferred format for implementing structured data that AI and search engines can parse.
Source Attestation
The process by which an AI model verifies the authority and truthfulness of a source before citing it in an answer.
Knowledge Graph
A network of entities and their relationships that AI models use to provide structured, factual answers.
Frequently asked questions
Is schema markup the same as structured data?+
Nearly. Structured data is the general concept of machine-readable facts on a page; schema markup is structured data that uses the Schema.org vocabulary specifically, which is what almost all web structured data uses in practice.
Does Google still show FAQ rich results?+
Google restricted FAQ rich results to authoritative government and health sites in 2023. FAQPage markup is still valid and still useful for clarifying question-and-answer content to search and AI engines, but most sites should not expect the visual dropdown in results.