It helps search engines understand your page and can earn rich results, but it's no switch for AI visibility. Google says it isn't required for generative AI search. Microsoft says it helps systems understand content. We found no statement from OpenAI or Perplexity that page markup influences citations. Add it for sound reasons, and don't expect a jump.
What is documented?
Each company says something different, so check them one by one. These are the statements we could verify.
| Source | What it says | What it doesn't say |
|---|---|---|
| Not required for generative AI search, no special schema.org markup needed, still a good idea as part of overall SEO | That markup raises your chance of being cited | |
| Microsoft | Schema helps search engines and AI systems understand content, and nothing guarantees selection | How much it counts |
| OpenAI | For merchants: a structured product feed that OpenAI ingests. That's a separate system, not markup on your page | Our search found no guidance on schema.org markup for ChatGPT search |
| Perplexity | Crawler and robots.txt rules | The pages we read don't mention schema markup at all |
"We found no statement" isn't proof that it doesn't matter. It means the claim isn't documented, so anyone stating it as fact is going beyond the sources.
What are the assumptions?
Several popular claims are assumptions, and some are plausible:
- "AI crawlers read your JSON-LD and trust it." Possible, but it isn't documented by OpenAI or Perplexity in the pages we checked.
- "Pages with schema get cited more." If a study shows this, check whether it's only a correlation. Sites that use markup may also have better technical work and more resources behind them.
- "Markup helps the model understand your entity." Sensible as an idea, and Microsoft's wording goes in this direction. How much it matters is unknown.
- "You need a special AI schema." Google explicitly says otherwise.
What can it do for sure?
It has documented uses in Google Search. Organization markup gives Google administrative details that help it tell your business apart, and can affect which logo appears. LocalBusiness markup shares details such as hours and departments. Other types can make a page eligible for rich results. Those benefits don't depend on any AI theory. See what structured data is for the basics.
What has changed recently?
Search features change, so old advice can go stale. The clearest example is the FAQ. You'll still see advice to add FAQ markup for extra visibility, while Google's changelog says the FAQ rich result stopped appearing in Google Search in May 2026 and its documentation was removed in June. You may still have reasons to keep questions and answers on a page, for readers above all. But don't add the markup because someone promised you a rich result. Whenever advice names a specific schema type, check Google's current page for it.
So should you add it?
Our decision rule: add a type when you can name a benefit that doesn't depend on a guess.
| Situation | Our advice |
|---|---|
| Any company site | Organization, kept accurate |
| Physical location or service area | LocalBusiness, matching your Business Profile |
| Articles, products or events | The matching type, if Google supports it and the content is on the page |
| "Add every type available" | Skip it. More markup means more that can go wrong or go stale |
| Marking up things that aren't on the page | Never. It breaks Google's guidelines |
Then compare your priorities. If key pages are vague or unreadable, markup won't rescue them. Fix what machines can read first. On our websites, relevant structured data is part of Complete and Signature.
