Content markup for AI discoverability

Why content markup for AI matters

PREREQUISITES: Content markup for AI is available out-of-the-box as of version Sitefinity 15.4.8626.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are changing how users discover and consume content. Instead of browsing through a list of links, users now have the option to ask direct questions and receive synthesized answers generated from multiple sources. Your content no longer competes only for rankings in traditional search engine results pages - it competes to be interpreted with precision, selected, and cited by AI retrieval systems.

By providing explicit machine-readable data, you clearly define what your content represents, who it is intended for, and how key entities relate to one another. This makes it easier for AI retrieval systems and search engines to accurately interpret and process your website content.
This is where Schema.org structured data becomes essential.

Understanding Schema.org structured data

Schema.org provides a standardized vocabulary for describing content in a way that machines can interpret with precision. By implementing structured data in your Sitefinity content - such as Article, News, FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Organization, and other content types - you explicitly define what your content represents, it is intended for, who authored it, and how different entities relate to one another.

Advantages of using structured content markup:

• Improved semantic discoverability – Structured data helps AI retrieval systems and search engines better interpret content entities, relationships, and context, supporting stronger SEO and GEO alignment.
• Higher credibility and trust signals – Explicitly defined authorship, publication details, organizations, and content types may increase credibility signals used by AI systems when selecting sources.
• Future-proof content strategy – Machine-readable data helps ensure your content remains accessible and adaptable to evolving AI-powered discovery systems.

Supported content types

Content markup for AI discoverability is available for:

• News items
• Blog posts
• Events
• List items
• Dynamic types
• Pages

The generated JSON-LD is automatically inserted into the details view for content items and directly into pages.

Configure content markup permissions

By default, only administrators have permission to construct structured data.

To grant permissions to other users, perform the following:

1. Navigate to Administration » Permissions » Access content markup for AI.
2. Click Change.
3. Configure the permission settings.
   For more information, see Global and section permissions.

Construct content markup for content items

You can create Schema.org markup for news items, blogs, events, list items, and dynamic types. The generated JSON-LD is automatically inserted into the details view of the content item.

To construct markup for content items, perform the following:

1. Navigate to the content item grid (for example, Content » News).
2. Click Settings in the toolbar.
3. Select Content markup for AI.
   The Content markup for AI editor opens.

Building your schema markup

You have two options:

Option 1: Paste existing JSON-LD

• Paste a pre-generated JSON-LD syntax directly into the editor.

Option 2: Build using the visual editor

• Insert Types – Select from pre-configured Schema.org types with default properties.
• Insert Properties – Add commonly used Schema.org properties to your markup.
• Insert Dynamic Data – Map fields from the current content item or related items to Schema properties.

For more information:

• Review Schema.org documentation for available types and properties
• Learn about JSON-LD syntax

Example: Creating markup for news items

1. Navigate to Content » News.
2. Click Settings in the toolbar.
3. Select Content markup for AI.
4. Use the visual editor to:
   • Select "Article" or "NewsArticle" type.
   • Map dynamic fields like Title, Publication Date, Author, and Description.
   • Add organization information.
   • Configure related content relationships.

Construct content markup for pages

You can construct schema markup for pages in all sites, for pages in the current site only, or for an individual page.

Construct markup for all sites or for the current site

PREREQUISITES: Schema markup per site is available as of Sitefinity CMS product update 15.4.8639.

To construct markup for pages in all sites or in the current site, perform the following:

1. Navigate to Pages.
2. In the upper-right corner, click the Settings icon.
   The Settings for pages pane opens.
3. Click Content markup for AI.
   The Content markup for AI editor opens.
4. In Apply this schema markup for..., select one of the following:
   • All sites
     The editor displays the global schema markup template. This template applies to pages in all sites.
   • Current site only
     The editor displays the schema markup template of the current site.
5. If you selected Current site only, in Enable schema markup for this site, select one of the following:
   • Yes
     The schema markup template applies only to pages in the current site.
   • No
     No schema markup is rendered for pages in the current site.
6. In Schema markup template, construct your Schema.org markup. Follow the same building process as for content items.
7. Click Save changes.

Construct markup for an individual page

To construct markup for a specific page, perform the following:

1. Navigate to Pages.
2. Click the Actions menu of the page and then click Content markup for AI.
3. Construct your Schema.org markup. Follow the same building process as for content items.
4. Save your changes.

The generated JSON-LD is inserted directly into the page's HTML output.

Schema precedence

The individual page schema overrides the global and the per-site schema settings:

• If you select the insert option for the individual page, both the individual page schema and the global or per-site schema are rendered.
• If you select the replace option for the individual page, only the individual page schema is rendered.

In addition, the content item schema is also rendered.

The schemas are rendered in the following order:

1. Content item.
2. Individual page.
3. Global or per-site page schema.

Syntax specifics

Multiple relations can be shown with the following syntax example:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "articles": [[RelatedArticles:
    {
      "@type": "Article",
      "title": "{{RelatedArticles.Title}}",
      "url": "{{RelatedArticles.CanonicalUrl}}"
    }
  ]]
}

Date and Time Formatting:

• {{PublicationDate:datetime}} shows all date and time information.
• {{PublicationDate:time}} shows just the time.
• {{PublicationDate}} shows only the date.