Schema Markup: What is It & How Will It Evolve With AI?

  • Content Strategy

Author

Stephanie Beasse

Date

October 16, 2025

What Is Schema Markup?

Simply put, schema markup is code that is added to your website that helps search engines understand what your content means, not just what it says. 

Users can quickly grasp what a webpage is about (such as a recipe, event, or service), but search engines prefer when information is defined in a consistent, machine-readable format. 

For example, if text on your website says “Macbeth runs at the Centaur Theatre this October”, schema markup can help crawlers interpret it correctly with a format like this:

{
  "@type": "Event",
  "name": "Macbeth",
  "startDate": "2025-10-20",
  "location": {
    "@type": "Place",
    "address": {
      "@type": "PostalAddress",
      "addressLocality": "Montreal",
      "addressRegion": "QC",
      "postalCode": "H2Y2T1",
      "streetAddress": "453 Saint Francois Xavier S"
  }
}

To you, the text version might be easier to read, but to a search engine, this structure is far more meaningful. It clearly states what the event is, when it happens and where.

Schema markup was introduced in 2011 in collaboration with Google, Bing, and Yahoo, and Yandex to help produce rich results.

What are rich results?

Rich results (or “rich snippets”) are search results that include extra visual or contextual details — like images, star ratings, prices, event dates, or FAQs.

For example:

  • A recipe might display prep time and ingredients.
  • An event might show date, venue, and ticket availability.
  • A product might show ratings and price.

Schema markup helps unlock these richer, more engaging listings.

Why Schema Markup Is Important for SEO

While schema markup won’t directly boost your SEO ranking, it improves how your content is displayed and understood. Here’s how it helps:

  • Improved Search Visibility: Structured data can unlock rich results (enhanced snippets in Google), like review stars, product availability, event details, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs, etc.
  • Higher CTR (Click-Through Rate): Enhanced search results are more visually appealing and informative, making users more likely to click on them.
  • Better Context for AI & Search: Schema markup clarifies what your content represents: the people, places, organizations, and topics involved. This context helps search engines connect your content to larger themes, improving your brand’s visibility across AI-driven results.

Structured Data and Generative AI

What is Structured Data?

While schema markup is the code that translates your human-readable content into machine-readable data, structured data is the concept itself of organized data.

  • Structured data = the idea of organizing information in a standard, logical way so machines understand it.
  • Schema markup = the specific code (based on Schema.org standards) you add to your site to express that structure.

The Impact of Generative AI on Websites

Search engines are shifting from simply indexing web pages to understanding and generating knowledge. Users now expect personalized, conversational answers — not just lists of links.

That shift makes structured data more important than ever. It’s no longer just for rich result,  it’s becoming a language that helps AI systems interpret, summarize, and trust your content.

Here’s how that might look:

Structured data as knowledge infrastructure

Instead of a static page of text, structured data defines your content as people, places, and things, the same way AI models think.

For example:

An article about apple cake can be defined as a Recipe (thing), written by a Person (author), and published by an Organization (brand).

This gives search engines and AI a blueprint to your content, helping them understand how it fits into a broader web of knowledge.

Entity-based SEO

While traditional SEO focuses on keywords, entity-based SEO focuses on meaning. It clearly identifies what you’re talking about, who’s involved, and how it connects to other concepts.

For example:

  • “Plank” could mean a workout move, a piece of wood, or a digital agency.
  • Schema markup clarifies that we’re referencing Plank, the web design and development agency (Organization Schema).

By labeling and connecting these entities, you’re teaching search engines and AI systems how your brand fits into the bigger picture — helping them surface your content in relevant contexts and conversations.

How to Get Started With Schema Markup

Adding structured data (schema markup) to your website doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start small, focus on your highest-impact pages, and grow from there. Here are simple steps that anyone on your team can follow:

Step 1: Choose What to Mark Up

Start by identifying the types of content that matter most for search and AI visibility. Ask yourself: what do we want Google (and AI systems) to understand best about us?

Common starting points:

  • Organization → your company or nonprofit (who you are)
    • This should be the foundation for anyone implementing schema markup. As you continue to add additional schema across your website it should link back to your Organization.
  • LocalBusiness → your office or physical locations (where you are)
  • Person → key team members, authors, or leadership
  • Article → blog posts, press releases, or news stories
  • Event → upcoming shows, fundraisers, or launches
  • Product / Service → what you sell or offer
  • FAQ → commonly asked questions about your work

Start with 1–2 types (for example, Organization + Article) and expand over time.

Step 2: Use a Trusted Generator or Plugin

While writing code offers more flexibility, there are other options that don’t require you to write it manually. If your website runs on WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace, there are plugins or built-in tools that create schema automatically.

Examples include:

Each tool walks you through simple forms — you fill in details like your business name, logo, or event date — and it generates the correct JSON-LD code behind the scenes.

Step 3: Add the Markup to Your Pages

Once you’ve generated the schema:If you use a plugin, it’s usually applied automatically. However, if you’re adding it manually, paste the JSON-LD code into the <head> or body of your webpage (your developer can do this easily).

Each schema type should describe what’s on that specific page — for example:

  • Your “About Us” page → Organization or LocalBusiness
  • A blog post → Article
  • An event page → Event

Step 4: Connect Everything Back to Your Brand

To help search engines understand that all parts belong to the same organization:

  • Make sure you’re using the same “@id” structure (a unique URL like https://yourwebsite.com/#organization) across all schema.
  • Link your authors, locations, or events back to that main organization.
  • This creates a “mini knowledge graph” — a web of connected meaning around your brand.

Step 5: Test and Validate

After you’ve added schema markup, check your work:

  • Visit Schema.org Validator or Google’s Rich Results Test
  • Enter your page URL
  • Fix any missing or incorrect fields before publishing.
  • See which schema types Google detects and if there are any warnings

Step 6: Monitor the Results

Over time, you may start seeing your content appear in rich results — such as event listings, FAQ dropdowns, or enhanced article snippets.

To track progress:

  • Check the “Enhancements” section in Google Search Console
  • Watch for increases in click-through rates and impressions
  • Continue adding structured data to new or high-performing pages
  • Don’t forget to review and update it as your content evolves.

Why This Matters Now

Your website isn’t just for human visitors anymore, it’s also for machines. As generative AI reshapes how people discover and interact with content, your site’s structured data becomes the foundation for being understood, trusted, and surfaced in AI-driven results.

Think less about traffic and more about visibility. When AI can easily interpret your content, your brand remains discoverable even when search is no longer just about keywords and clicks.

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