Яндекс.Метрика

sitemap, metadata and JSON-LD: how an agent learns who you are

Before recommending a product, an agent works out what it is, who makes it and where the docs are. Some of those answers come from markup, not text.

Why it matters

  • JSON-LD with the Organization or SoftwareApplication type gives facts in machine-readable form: name, site, contacts. Without it the agent guesses from the text.
  • A sitemap.xml listed in robots.txt is a map the agent uses to find the right pages without crawling everything.
  • A homepage link to API docs is the shortest path for an agent that came to integrate.

What to do

  1. 1

    JSON-LD on the homepage

    Add Organization (or SoftwareApplication for a product) with name, url, description and contacts.

    <script type="application/ld+json">
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization",
 "name":"Company","url":"https://example.com",
 "description":"What we do","contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","email":"sales@example.com"}}
</script>
  2. 2

    sitemap in robots.txt

    Add the sitemap URL with a Sitemap: line in robots.txt.

    Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
  3. 3

    Metadata and a docs link

    The homepage needs a title, meta description, canonical and lang on <html>. Put a link to the API docs in the header or footer if you have them.

What the scanner checks

  • A sitemap exists

    sitemap.xml is the list of pages. An agent uses it to find sections it did not reach by links.

  • Homepage metadata is filled in

    Title, description, canonical URL and language. They tell an agent what the site is.

  • Company or product markup is present

    JSON-LD is company data in a machine format: name, site URL, product type.

  • The homepage links to API docs

    When asked to set up an integration, an agent looks for docs starting from the homepage.

  • Page preview data is filled in

    Title, description, image and page type (Open Graph). An assistant uses them when it shows a link to you.

  • Company markup has a description and contacts

    The description, logo and contacts in the markup let an assistant confirm this is a real company before recommending it.

  • Markup links to official profiles

    sameAs links to GitHub, social networks and app stores. They tell an assistant that mentions elsewhere are about you.

  • About, contact and policy pages are linked from the homepage

    An agent checks these pages to make sure the site can be trusted.

  • The sitemap carries update dates

    Dates tell an agent and search which pages have changed and are worth rereading.

  • Prices are in the markup

    Price and currency as machine data. An assistant takes them from there exactly instead of reading them out of page text.

  • Questions and answers are marked up

    An FAQ block in the markup gives ready question-and-answer pairs an assistant can quote.

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Sources

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