JSON-LD structured data for AI answers

Tell machines, in their own format, who you are and what each page contains.

Why it matters for AEO

Search engines and AI assistants read your HTML, but HTML is ambiguous: is "Acme" a company, a product or a person? JSON-LD states it outright, using the shared schema.org vocabulary. Google uses it for rich results, and the same facts feed the knowledge graphs that AI answers draw on.

Where it goes

Add a <script type="application/ld+json"> block anywhere in the page, usually the <head>. It must be in the HTML the server sends: crawlers that don't run JavaScript won't see JSON-LD injected later by a tag manager.

The four types worth adding first

1. Organization or LocalBusiness (home page)

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Acme Plumbing",
  "url": "https://acme.example/",
  "logo": "https://acme.example/logo.png",
  "telephone": "+61 7 0000 0000",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "Brisbane",
    "addressRegion": "QLD",
    "addressCountry": "AU"
  },
  "sameAs": ["https://www.facebook.com/acmeplumbing"]
}
</script>

Use Organization for online-only businesses; a more specific subtype such as Plumber or Restaurant is better still.

2. Article (blog posts and guides)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "How to fix a running toilet",
  "datePublished": "2026-10-01",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-15",
  "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Smith" }
}

3. FAQPage (real questions and answers on the page)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Do you charge a call-out fee?",
    "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "No call-out fee within 20 km of the CBD." }
  }]
}

Only mark up questions that are visible on the page. Question-and-answer pairs are the format AI assistants quote most readily, so this is worth writing even without the markup.

4. BreadcrumbList (any page below the home page)

Shows where the page sits in your site, which helps both search snippets and AI models understand context. See this page's own source for an example.

Common mistakes

• Invalid JSON: a trailing comma or a curly quote breaks the whole block. Validate with the Schema Markup Validator.
• Markup that contradicts the page, such as a FAQ that isn't on the page or a review score nobody gave.
• Only the home page has JSON-LD. Every important page should describe itself.

Frequently asked questions

JSON-LD, Microdata or RDFa?

JSON-LD. Google recommends it, and it sits apart from your HTML so it is easy to maintain.

Will structured data get me cited by ChatGPT?

Not on its own. It removes ambiguity, which makes accurate citation easier; the content still has to answer the question better than the alternatives.

Check yours

Aeoray finds the JSON-LD types on any page and flags pages with none, together with six other AI-visibility signals.

More guides: how to add llms.txt · allowing AI crawlers in robots.txt · the full AEO checklist.