Site structure · Vocabulary
Schema.org
What is Schema.org?
Schema.org is a shared vocabulary, founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex in 2011, for describing entities and their properties in machine-readable markup.
Schema.org types such as Person, Organization, Article, DefinedTerm and Product tell a parser what a page is about. Google uses supported types for rich results and has said structured data helps it understand content; it does not describe markup as a direct ranking boost.
The highest-leverage properties for entity work are @id, sameAs, about and mentions — the ones that connect nodes rather than decorate them.
Related entities
- Content CredentialsContent Credentials are provenance information associated with digital assets using the C2PA specification to record and verify aspects of their origin and history.
- C2PAC2PA is the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, which develops a technical specification for associating verifiable provenance records with digital content.
- Answer Engine OptimizationAnswer Engine Optimization (AEO) shapes content so a search engine or voice assistant can lift one passage from your page as the direct answer to a question.
- EntityAn entity is a uniquely identifiable thing — a person, organization, place, product or concept — that a search engine can recognize independently of the words used to describe it.
- JSON-LDJSON-LD is a W3C standard for embedding linked data in a page as JSON, and it is the structured-data format Google recommends.
- Knowledge GraphA knowledge graph stores facts as entities connected by typed relationships, so a machine can answer questions by traversing connections instead of matching text.
Field notes covering Schema.org
- How to Build a Site-Wide Entity GraphStable @ids, hub pages, about and mentions, sameAs, and one registry that keeps markup, links and llms.txt from drifting — a seven-step build guide.
- Your Website Is Not a Stack of Pages. It Is a Knowledge Base.Entities, relationships, schema, internal links, and answer-ready evidence: the architecture machines need when pages alone are no longer enough.
- What Is Schema Markup? A Plain-English Guide for Small BusinessesThe invisible code that tells Google and AI assistants exactly who you are, what you offer and how you're rated. The five types a small business needs, what schema won't do, and how to check yours.
Sources & identifiers
Search disciplinesSite structureAI systemsLocal searchDistribution & growthAgentic commerceHover to trace relationships · click to open