JSON-LD Schema for AEO: The Types That Actually Move Citation Rates

Schema markup does not guarantee AI citations. Nothing does. But pages with well-implemented structured data earn citations at measurably higher rates than equivalent pages without it. AirOps research from 2026 puts pages with clean structured data at 2.8 times the citation rate of poorly structured equivalents.

Two things changed in 2026 worth knowing before implementation. HowTo rich results were deprecated by Google in January 2026 — the JSON-LD type is still valid and AI engines still parse it, but SERP rich results are gone. FAQPage rich results were removed from standard Google Search on 7 May 2026, completing a restriction started in 2023. FAQPage JSON-LD is still valid and AI retrieval crawlers still parse it. Do not remove FAQPage markup from your site because of this change.

1. Organisation Schema (Sitewide — Do This First)

Organisation schema defines your brand as an entity. The sameAs array is what makes this high-leverage for AEO. Linking your brand to its external profiles teaches AI knowledge graphs to recognise and accurately describe your brand.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "@id": "https://notioncue.com/#organization",
  "name": "NotioncCue",
  "url": "https://notioncue.com",
  "description": "AEO tracking platform that monitors brand citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews.",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/notioncue",
    "https://twitter.com/notioncue"
  ]
}

2. Article Schema (Every Blog Post and Content Page)

Article schema signals editorial credibility. The dateModified property is the most under-used and highest-value field. AI retrieval systems use it as one of the primary freshness signals when comparing two pages on the same topic.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Your Article Title Here",
  "datePublished": "2026-06-01",
  "dateModified": "2026-06-23",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Sudhir Singh",
    "sameAs": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhir-ks"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "@id": "https://notioncue.com/#organization"
  }
}

3. FAQPage Schema (Any Page With a Q&A Section)

FAQPage is the schema type most directly aligned with how AI retrieval works. Keep each acceptedAnswer.text between 40 and 80 words — short enough to be pulled directly into an AI-generated response, long enough to be substantive. Write questions in natural language matching how people actually type into ChatGPT.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is answer engine optimisation?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews can extract and cite it in generated answers. It differs from traditional SEO in that it targets AI-generated responses rather than positions on a search results page."
      }
    }
  ]
}

4. Person Schema (Author Pages)

Author credibility is an E-E-A-T signal that AI systems use when deciding whether to cite a source. The knowsAbout array tells AI systems which topics to associate with this author.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "@id": "https://notioncue.com/about/#person",
  "name": "Sudhir Singh",
  "jobTitle": "Senior SEO and AEO Specialist",
  "sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhir-ks"],
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Answer Engine Optimisation",
    "AI Search Visibility",
    "Technical SEO",
    "AI Citation Tracking"
  ]
}

5. BreadcrumbList Schema (All Content Pages)

BreadcrumbList schema tells AI crawlers where a page sits within your site's information architecture. A page on AI citation tracking that sits within a structured AEO content cluster is more authoritative on that topic than a standalone page with no structural context.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://notioncue.com"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Blog", "item": "https://notioncue.com/blog"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "JSON-LD Schema for AEO", "item": "https://notioncue.com/blog/json-ld-schema-aeo"}
  ]
}