Structured data describes the content of a web page in a way machines can understand without interpretation. Running text might mention in passing where a company is based. Structured data states it explicitly: there is an organization with this name, this address belongs to it, and this website is its official site.
schema.org and JSON-LD
A widely used vocabulary for this is schema.org, an open, community-maintained collection of types and properties. It includes Organization for companies, Product and SoftwareApplication for offerings, Article for posts, FAQPage for questions and answers, and DefinedTerm for technical terms.
schema.org can be embedded in one of three formats: Microdata, RDFa, or JSON-LD. JSON-LD is a W3C-standardized JSON format for linked data and is especially easy to maintain, because the information sits bundled in its own script block in the HTML, separate from the visible text. Unique identifiers connect individual statements, for example a product with the company that offers it.
Why structured data matters for GEO
AI systems have to work out from many sources who is behind an offering and what it does. Structured data makes core facts such as name, provider, address, or category unambiguous and reduces the risk of confusion and misinterpretation. In GEO, it therefore contributes to accurate AI visibility.
Each AI provider decides whether and how much its systems use structured data. Structured data is therefore not a lever that guarantees a mention, but a foundation for unambiguous information. It pairs well with an llms.txt file: llms.txt gives an overview of the entire website, while structured data describes each individual page.
Matching the visible content
Structured data is only a reliable foundation if it reflects exactly what is visible on the page. The safest approach is to generate visible content and structured data from the same source, so they cannot drift apart. Keeping name, address, and description identical on other pages and platforms as well, known as brand fact consistency, is part of making a company clearly identifiable as an entity.