Schema Markup for AI Search: A Practical Priority Guide

Most small business sites under-use structured data. The types that matter most for AI visibility are Organisation (your entity), Person (authorship and E-E-A-T), and Article. We do not recommend FAQPage schema, which Google deprecated in 2023. This is a practical priority guide rather than a statistical study, so it does not quote adoption rates or citation multipliers we cannot verify. The strongest evidenced content lever is concrete substance: the Princeton/Georgia Tech GEO study found statistics, quotations, and citations can lift generative-engine visibility by up to 40%. Source: GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (arXiv 2311.09735).

Which schema types matter, in order

Schema Type	Why it matters for AI	Priority
Organisation	Declares your entity: name, description, logo, social profiles, contact	Highest
LocalBusiness	Adds location and service-area detail for local queries	High (if local)
Person	Connects content to a named, credentialed author (E-E-A-T)	High
Article	Attributes content, dates, and author	Medium
Speakable	Marks the most extractable passages; low-cost add-on	Low
FAQPage	Deprecated by Google in 2023; not recommended	Avoid

Start with Organisation schema

Organisation schema is the single most useful structured data type for AI search visibility. It declares your entity (name, description, logo, founding date, social profiles) in a format AI engines parse directly. Adding a complete version is a one-time task that takes under an hour. See our full schema markup guide for implementation detail.

Then add Person schema

AI engines, and Google's E-E-A-T guidance, weight identifiable authorship. Person schema lets you state who wrote the content, their credentials, and where else they publish. Few small business sites do this, so it is a straightforward way to strengthen your authorship signals.

Do not add FAQPage schema

Google deprecated FAQ rich results in 2023 and no longer surfaces FAQPage markup as a search feature for most sites. There is no reliable evidence it increases AI citations. Put the effort into answer-first Q&A content instead.

Quick wins for UK SMEs

Action	Time Required	Why
Add complete Organisation schema	30-60 minutes	Strongest entity signal
Add Person schema for key authors	~20 minutes per person	Authorship and E-E-A-T
Rewrite key answers answer-first	Varies	Extractability plus GEO substance
Add Speakable to top answers	~10 minutes per page	Low-cost extraction hint

Because most competitors under-use structured data, getting the basics right is a low-effort advantage. For a deeper look at the entity layer specifically, see our Organisation schema guide.