Structured Data (schema.org / JSON-LD)
Structured data is machine-readable markup, usually schema.org vocabulary written as JSON-LD, that labels facts like a business's name, address, hours, and services so search engines can index them precisely, though no study shows it causes AI citations.
Also known as: Schema markup, Schema.org markup, JSON-LD
Structured data is a block of code, most often JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary, that sits in your page's HTML and labels the facts on it in a way software can read without guessing. A LocalBusiness block might declare your name, address, phone, opening hours, price range, and geographic coordinates. A FAQPage block labels each question and answer. Humans never see it; crawlers do.
What it reliably does is help classic search engines. Google uses structured data to understand pages and, for some types, to show rich results like star ratings or FAQ dropdowns in search listings. Microsoft's Fabrice Canel has said schema helps Bing's LLMs understand content. Since Copilot runs on Bing's index, and since retrieval systems generally start from a search index, well-indexed pages are easier to retrieve. That's the honest indirect case for markup.
Here's what the evidence doesn't support: the claim that adding schema gets you cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI. The one empirical test of that idea, run by Search Atlas, found no correlation between a site's schema coverage and how often LLMs cited it. There's no peer-reviewed research showing a causal link. If someone is selling you schema markup as an AI visibility tactic, they're selling folklore with a plausible story attached.
For a small business, the sensible position is: add correct LocalBusiness markup because it's cheap, it helps Google index your basics, and it can't hurt. Then stop expecting it to do anything more. What AI engines demonstrably respond to is the same information stated in plain text on the page where a model can read it: your prices, your hours, your service area, what you specialize in. Markup that duplicates facts you've hidden in an image or PDF fixes the code without fixing the page.
Pages Tibly publishes to a hosted site include LocalBusiness structured data, and the AI-readiness audit checks for it as one item among several. It's a hygiene item on that list, not the headline; the plain-text facts and crawler access checks are where the evidence points.
Keep exploring the glossary
- LocalBusiness SchemaLocalBusiness schema is the schema.org structured data type, with subtypes like Dentist, Plumber, Restaurant, and LegalService, that marks up a business's name, address, phone, hours, and service area in JSON-LD so search engines can index those facts without inferring them.
- FAQ Schema (FAQPage)FAQ schema is schema.org's FAQPage structured data type, a block of JSON-LD that labels the questions and answers on a page so search engines can read each pair explicitly, which helps indexing but hasn't been shown to earn AI citations.
- EntityAn entity is a distinct, uniquely identifiable thing such as a business, person, or place that search engines and AI systems recognize as a single node with attributes, so Smith Plumbing in Dayton is one entity however it's written online.
- CrawlabilityCrawlability is how easily automated bots from search engines and AI companies can discover, fetch, and read the pages on a website, determined by robots.txt rules, server responses, HTTPS, sitemaps, and whether content is visible without running JavaScript.
Common questions about Structured Data (schema.org / JSON-LD)
- Does schema markup help me get cited by ChatGPT?
- There's no evidence it does directly. Search Atlas tested for a link between schema coverage and LLM citation rates and found none. Schema may help indirectly by improving how classic search engines index your pages, which feeds retrieval, but nobody has shown markup alone earns a citation.
- Should I still add structured data to my site?
- Yes, the basic LocalBusiness type at least. It's low effort, helps Google understand your name, address, hours, and services, and can enable rich results. Just don't pay for it as an AI visibility service, and don't skip putting the same facts in plain text on the page.