AI & Web Glossary
Structured data (schema markup)
Structured data, often called schema markup, is machine-readable labeling added to your website that states facts about your business — what you do, what you offer, your FAQs — in a format search engines and AI systems parse without guessing.
Your website says things to humans; structured data says them to machines. It's a standardized vocabulary (from schema.org) embedded invisibly in your pages that states, unambiguously: this is an organization with this name, these services, these frequently asked questions, this article published on this date. Search engines have used it for years to build rich results, the star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, and event listings you see on results pages.
It matters more now because AI systems lean on it too. A model deciding whether to cite you does better when your facts are machine-readable rather than implied by your page layout. Structured data is one of the cheaper, higher-certainty pieces of both SEO and GEO: you're literally handing the machines correct answers about your business.
Practical example: marking up a services page so each service is a declared entity with a name, description, and provider. A human sees the same page either way; a machine goes from 'this page mentions automation a lot' to 'this company offers a service called Workflow Automation with AI.' That precision is the entire point.
Where this shows up in practice
- Our SEO & GEO service puts this to work for small and mid-sized businesses.
- From the blog: How to get your business cited by AI search