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Glossary · seo

Schema.org

Definition

Schema.org is an open structured-data vocabulary co-created in 2011 by Google + Microsoft + Yahoo + Yandex. By adding JSON-LD to your page you tell search engines "this content is a product/article/event/review". Critical for rich snippets + AI search citation.

Published: 2026-05-05Updated: 2026-05-05

Detailed explanation

Critical for AI search in 2026: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini consume schema markup. Pages with schema get 30-40% more AI citations (Princeton GEO study).

Most common types: Article (blog), Product (e-commerce), Service, Organization, Person, Event, Recipe, FAQPage, HowTo, Review, AggregateRating, BreadcrumbList, ItemList, LocalBusiness, WebSite.

JSON-LD format: most common (inside script tag), Microdata + RDFa are alternatives. Google prefers JSON-LD. Test with: Google Rich Results Test, Schema.org validator.

Rich snippet benefits: 10-30% CTR lift (stars, price, FAQ accordion in SERP). Mandatory modern SEO for e-commerce + blog + service pages.

Use cases

AI search engine citation (ChatGPT, Perplexity)

Google rich snippets (CTR uplift)

Knowledge graph entry (entity recognition)

Voice search ('Hey Google, what is X?')

Programmatic SEO page standard

Pros

  • +30-40% more AI search citations
  • +Google rich snippet (CTR lift)
  • +Knowledge graph + entity recognition
  • +Voice-search compatible

Cons

  • Initial setup + per-page schema writing
  • Validation + maintenance needed
  • Wrong schema = penalty risk

Related terms

JSON-LDRich SnippetSEOAI SEO

Related services

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