Schema Markup for AEO: The Exact Types That Drive AI Citations in 2026

Schema is no longer about rich snippets. In 2026 it's the cleanest way to tell an LLM what your page actually means — entities, relationships, authorship, freshness — without making it guess from prose. The brands shipping the right schema stack are the ones getting cited.

Why schema matters more for AEO than for classic SEO

AI engines parse JSON-LD as a structured fact source. When your page declares an Article with a named author, a Person with sameAs links, an Organization with a clear identity, and FAQPage Q&As that match the body text, the model can lift those facts directly into an answer with attribution. Pages without schema force the LLM to guess — and guessing favors the brand it already recognizes.

The 6-schema stack every page should ship

1. Organization (site-wide, with sameAs to LinkedIn, Wikidata, Crunchbase). 2. Person for authors (with jobTitle, knowsAbout, worksFor). 3. Article or BlogPosting with author, datePublished, dateModified. 4. FAQPage matching on-page Q&A verbatim. 5. BreadcrumbList on every non-home page. 6. Product or Service where money changes hands. Validate every template in the Schema.org Validator and Google's Rich Results Test before shipping.

FAQPage is still the single highest-leverage win

Six to eight crisp Q&As at the bottom of a pillar page, mirrored exactly in FAQPage JSON-LD, is the fastest path to citations. ChatGPT and Perplexity love quoting these blocks because they're already pre-formatted as questions and answers.

Common schema mistakes that block citations

Schema text that doesn't match the visible HTML (Google penalizes this). Missing dateModified — AI engines deprioritize stale content. No sameAs on Organization or Person, so the model can't disambiguate your entity. Stuffing schema into images or alt text. Validating once and never re-checking after a CMS update.

What's next

This piece is one chapter in the broader AEO playbook. For the full strategy — entity signals, llms.txt, measurement, and how everything connects — read the pillar: "What is AEO? How to Get Cited by ChatGPT in 2026" and grab the AEO Implementation Checklist PDF.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which schema type drives the most AI citations?

FAQPage, by a wide margin. It's the lowest-effort, highest-yield schema for AEO because LLMs can ingest the Q&A pairs directly. Pair it with Article + Person to compound the effect.

Do I need schema if my page already ranks well in Google?

Yes. Classic ranking and AI citation are now separate funnels. A page can rank #1 and still never get cited by ChatGPT if it has no schema, no entity signals, and no quotable structure.

How do I validate my schema?

Run every template through the Schema.org Validator first, then Google's Rich Results Test. Re-validate after any template or CMS change — silent breakage is common.