Structured Data / Schema Markup
Machine-readable tags embedded in your HTML that tell search engines and AI systems exactly what your content represents.
What it means
Schema.org structured data lets you annotate a product page so that crawlers understand the product name, price, rating, availability, brand, and description without guessing from prose. Product schema, Review schema, FAQ schema, and BreadcrumbList schema are all relevant for AI recommendation visibility. LLMs and AI crawlers use structured data as high-confidence signals when deciding what to cite. Google's Merchant Center also consumes structured data for Shopping surfaces.
Why it matters for Shopify
Shopify themes generate basic product schema automatically, but merchants who add richer attributes — aggregate ratings, detailed product specs, FAQ schema — get measurably higher AI citation rates.