KentLundin.com

Schema Structured Data: How It Powers SEO and GEO

Ever wonder why some websites show up in rich Google results or get quoted by AI assistants, while others—often with better writing—remain invisible?
The secret isn’t always better words. It’s better signals. And one of the strongest signals you can give to both search engines and generative AI is schema structured data.

Schema is like putting subtitles on your website—not for people, but for machines. Without it, Google and AI systems might guess what your page means. With it, they know.

What Is Schema Structured Data?

At its core, schema structured data is a standardized vocabulary of tags (from Schema.org) that you add to your site’s code. It labels the things on your page—people, places, products, articles—in ways machines understand.

Both layers exist together. Humans read the story. Machines read the schema.

Why Schema Matters for SEO and GEO

Schema and SEO

For traditional SEO, schema boosts visibility. It enables rich results like:

This doesn’t just look nice—it often drives higher click-through rates.

Schema and GEO

But in the new world of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), schema becomes even more critical. Why?

Because AI assistants don’t show ten blue links—they give one synthesized answer. When deciding which sites to trust, AI models look for structured signals that reduce ambiguity.

Schema is like SEO’s sidekick—but in GEO, it’s the superhero.

The Most Useful Schema Types (and When to Use Them)

There are dozens of schema types, but let’s focus on five you’ll see everywhere:

  1. Article
    • Marks a blog post, news story, or guide.
    • Example: This page uses Article schema so AI knows it’s educational content.
  2. FAQPage
    • Defines a list of questions and answers.
    • Example: A “Common Questions About GEO” section at the bottom of this page (see below).
  3. LocalBusiness
    • Labels core business info (name, address, phone, hours).
    • Example: A pest control company in Arizona could use it so AI assistants show phone numbers and service areas directly.
  4. Product
    • Defines product details (price, reviews, availability).
    • Example: An e-commerce store selling embroidered beanies (like your students’ IBC companies).
  5. Person
    • Defines an individual (name, job, organization, social links).
    • Example: A professor’s bio page with Person schema tells Google and AI: “This entity is Kent Lundin, connected to BYU-Idaho and digital marketing.”

How Schema Feeds Knowledge Graphs

Here’s where schema gets powerful: it doesn’t just help Google show fancy results. It helps build Knowledge Graphs—the web of entities and relationships AI systems rely on.

Think of schema as the wires that connect the dots.

Example:

That’s not just text—it’s a graph. And when AI sees those graphs repeated across trusted sources, it recognizes your site as reliable and mentions it more often.

Practical Example: Adding FAQ Schema

Let’s walk through a simple case. Suppose you’re writing about Porter Park. At the bottom of your page, you add three FAQs:

For humans, you just write Q&A text.
For machines, you add this schema:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What facilities are at Porter Park?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "The park offers picnic areas, playgrounds, splash pad, and bathrooms."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "Are there bathrooms at Porter Park?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Yes."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "Where is Porter Park located?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It is located in the west portion Rexburg, Idaho."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Now, both humans and AI benefit—readers get answers, and machines get structured clarity.

Common Mistakes with Schema

  1. Not using it at all.
    If your competitors add schema and you don’t, you’re invisible in the AI layer.
  2. Using the wrong type.
    Marking a blog post as “Product” or a local business as “Person” confuses search engines.
  3. Code errors.
    Even small typos can break schema. Always test with Google’s Rich Results Test.
  4. Thinking schema replaces content.
    Schema supports good content—it doesn’t replace it. Poorly written pages with perfect schema won’t rank or be mentioned.

FAQs About Schema Structured Data

Q: Do I need to know code to use schema?
Not really. Many WordPress plugins (like Yoast or RankMath) generate schema automatically. But custom schema often performs better.

Q: Does schema guarantee rich results?
No. Google and AI tools may use your schema, but they aren’t required to. Think of schema as increasing your odds.

Q: Is schema only for SEO?
Not anymore. It’s one of the cornerstones of GEO because AI assistants lean on structured signals.

Final Thoughts

Schema structured data is no longer optional. It’s one of the most direct ways to communicate with search engines and AI assistants.

Think of schema as your website’s second language—the one spoken by machines. And in the era of generative search, being fluent in that language could make the difference between being invisible and being indispensable.

Key Takeaways

🧠 Next Steps: Putting Schema Into Action

Now that you understand what structured data does and how it connects your entities, the next step is implementation.

Structured data only works when it’s actually present on your pages — either inserted by hand or through a WordPress plugin that outputs clean JSON-LD.

👉 Continue to the step-by-step tutorial:

How to Add JSON-LD Schema to WordPress

In that guide you’ll learn:

By combining the concepts on this page with the practical steps in the tutorial, you’ll move from knowing what schema means → to building a machine-readable knowledge graph that connects all your GEO content.