Quick Answer: Schema markup is JSON-LD code embedded in your page that explicitly labels your content as an Organization, FAQ, Article, Product, etc. AI agents use schema to confidently extract facts. The five schema types that matter most for AEO are Organization, WebSite, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, and Article.

What is schema markup and why does it matter for AI?

Schema.org is a vocabulary for describing entities on the web. JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is the format AI agents prefer. When your page includes JSON-LD schema, the agent does not have to guess whether a number is a price, a date, or a phone number — the schema labels it. That confidence translates directly into citation eligibility.

Which schema types should every page have?

At a minimum: Organization (sitewide, same @id on every page), WebSite with SearchAction (homepage), BreadcrumbList (every non-home page, dynamically generated), and FAQPage on any page with a Q&A section. Blog posts should add Article with author, datePublished, and dateModified. Service pages should add Service, product pages Product, and tutorials HowTo.

Where do I put JSON-LD schema in my page?

Inside a script tag in the <head> — script type="application/ld+json". Multiple schema blocks per page are allowed and recommended. Validate every block with Google Rich Results Test and Schema.org Validator before deploying.

How does FAQPage schema increase AI citations?

FAQPage schema mirrors a question-and-answer block visible on the page. AI agents disproportionately cite FAQ-marked answers because they map cleanly to user queries. Sites that add FAQPage schema to their top 10 pages see citation rates increase by 60–80% on average within 60 days.

Should I use Microdata, RDFa, or JSON-LD?

JSON-LD. Always. Google publicly recommends it, and AI agents (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) all parse JSON-LD reliably. Microdata and RDFa still work but are harder to maintain and less consistently parsed by newer AI crawlers.

What are common schema mistakes that hurt AEO?

The most common mistakes: schema that does not match visible page content (Google penalizes this), missing required properties on Article (author, headline, datePublished), reusing the same Organization @id with different fields across pages, and FAQ schema without an actual FAQ visible on the page. Fix these and your citation eligibility climbs immediately.