Canonical Identity Schema Model Cheatsheet
Provided to help website owners better understand how to assemble their Canonical Identity
The following is based on the Schema structure from Schema.org
Schema.org model for canonical identity
Every Schema.org class and property likely to be needed when building a canonical business identity. Search to filter, and click any name to read its official definition.
These are the few properties that make identity work. They matter more than any single type.
The stable, canonical identifier for the entity, written as a URL on the controlled domain (for example https://example.com/#organization). Everything references it.
The most specific type that applies. Being specific improves resolution.
Links to authoritative outside records (Wikidata, LinkedIn, registries, verified profiles). This is how machines corroborate the entity.
Registry identifiers, usually as PropertyValue name and value pairs (DUNS, LEI, GLN, registration numbers).
@context points to https://schema.org. @graph holds all nodes together so they can reference each other by @id.
The base type for any business or group. Choose the most specific type that fits. Every canonical record has exactly one primary organization type.
Base type for any organized group or business.
A business corporation.
A business that operates online.
An online retail store.
A school, college, or similar.
An organization that provides healthcare.
A hospital.
A medical clinic.
A news or media organization.
LocalBusiness is both an Organization and a Place, so it carries address, geo, hours, and price. Pick the most specific subtype below. Common shared properties: address, geo, telephone, openingHoursSpecification, priceRange, currenciesAccepted, paymentAccepted, hasMap, branchOf, areaServed, sameAs, identifier.
A physical business serving a local area.
An archive holding collections.
A dental practice.
A financial service business.
A place that serves food.
A lodging business.
A physician or medical practice.
Founders, officers, and key people. Each person should have a stable @id and sameAs links (LinkedIn, Wikidata, ORCID) to strengthen resolution of the organization.
An individual person.
Address, coordinates, and geographic areas. PostalAddress is the identity-critical one (the NAP address); GeoCoordinates pins the location; the area types express service areas.
A physical location.
A mailing or physical address.
A single geographic point.
A geographic area.
Contact channels and opening hours. Use one ContactPoint per purpose (sales, support, billing, media). OpeningHoursSpecification expresses hours per day with optional valid dates.
A contact method for a purpose.
Opening hours for a place.
What the business offers. For canonical identity, category-level Service or Product entries are usually enough. Identity work stops at describing offerings; it does not conduct transactions.
An offer to provide a product or service.
A set of offers over a price range.
A service offered.
A product offered.
The price of an item.
An amount of money.
A measured value with a unit.
A brand owned by the business.
The site and page types, plus media objects. WebSite carries the sitewide identity and search action; WebPage subtypes label key pages (used by the llms.txt key-pages map).
A website as a whole.
A single web page.
An image (logo, photo).
A video.
Signals of authority and trust. Credentials, licenses, and certifications carry the issuing body; reviews and ratings carry reputation. These help resolution systems trust what they attach.
A license, certification, degree, or credential.
A certification of an object or organization.
A review of an item.
A rating value.
An aggregate of many ratings.
A term in a controlled vocabulary (categories, tags).
A name/value pair for identifiers and custom attributes.
The identity-relevant properties, with their expected value type and why they matter.
| Property | Expected type | Identity note |
|---|---|---|
| @id | URL (IRI) | The stable canonical node identifier. The anchor of the whole record. |
| @type | Type name | The most specific applicable type. |
| name | Text | The one canonical name, identical everywhere. |
| legalName | Text | The registered legal name. |
| alternateName | Text | Aliases, DBAs, former names, abbreviations. |
| description | Text | The canonical description. |
| disambiguatingDescription | Text | A short line that separates this entity from similar ones. |
| url | URL | The canonical website. |
| sameAs | URL | Authoritative external references: Wikidata, LinkedIn, registries, verified profiles. The corroboration layer. |
| identifier | PropertyValue / Text / URL | Registry identifiers as name/value pairs (DUNS, LEI, GLN, registration numbers). |
| additionalType | URL | A type from an external vocabulary (for example a Wikidata or industry type). |
| logo | ImageObject / URL | The brand logo. |
| image | ImageObject / URL | Representative images. |
| address | PostalAddress | The NAP address. Must be identical across all listings. |
| geo | GeoCoordinates / GeoShape | The map location. |
| telephone | Text | Primary phone, in E.164 format. |
| Text | Primary email. | |
| contactPoint | ContactPoint | Contacts by purpose. |
| openingHoursSpecification | OpeningHoursSpecification | Hours per day, with valid dates. |
| founder | Person | Founders. |
| foundingDate | Date | When founded. |
| foundingLocation | Place | Where founded. |
| dissolutionDate | Date | When dissolved, if applicable. |
| employee / member | Person / Organization | Key people and members. |
| memberOf | Organization | Chambers, associations, professional bodies. |
| parentOrganization | Organization | The parent (subsidiary or division relationship). |
| subOrganization | Organization | Children of this organization. |
| department | Organization | A department or unit. |
| branchOf | Organization | The larger org a local branch or franchise belongs to. |
| brand | Brand / Organization | Owned brands. |
| makesOffer | Offer | Services or products offered. |
| hasOfferCatalog | OfferCatalog | A structured catalog of offerings. |
| areaServed | Place / AdministrativeArea / GeoShape / Text | The geographic area served. |
| knowsAbout | Text / Thing / URL | Topics the entity is authoritative on. |
| knowsLanguage | Language / Text | Languages spoken. |
| hasCredential | EducationalOccupationalCredential | Licenses, certifications, accreditations. |
| award | Text | Awards received. |
| duns | Text | Dun and Bradstreet DUNS number. |
| leiCode | Text | Legal Entity Identifier (ISO 17442). |
| taxID / vatID | Text | Tax and VAT IDs. Sensitive; keep internal, do not publish. |
| naics | Text | North American Industry Classification code. |
| globalLocationNumber | Text | GS1 GLN. |
| iso6523Code | Text | An ISO 6523 organization identifier. |
| numberOfEmployees | QuantitativeValue | Headcount or range. |
| nonprofitStatus | NonprofitType | Nonprofit classification, for example a 501(c)(3). |
| ownershipFundingInfo | Text / URL / AboutPage / CreativeWork | Ownership and funding disclosure. |
| owns | OwnershipInfo / Product | Things the organization owns. |
| funder / sponsor | Person / Organization | Funders and sponsors. |
| slogan | Text | A slogan or tagline. |
| priceRange | Text | General price range, for a LocalBusiness. |
| currenciesAccepted / paymentAccepted | Text | Payment facts, for a LocalBusiness. |
| aggregateRating / review | AggregateRating / Review | Reputation signals. |
| keywords | Text / DefinedTerm / URL | Descriptive keywords. |
Schema.org is the foundation, not the whole model. A complete canonical identity draws on these too.
The single most useful sameAs target. A Wikidata item and its QID anchor the entity in the graph most AI systems draw on.
The Google Business Profile CID and the Knowledge Graph entity ID, referenced through sameAs.
Global Location Numbers for places and GTINs for products.
The Legal Entity Identifier for the legal entity.
Dun and Bradstreet business identifier.
Industry classification codes.
Country (ISO 3166), language (BCP 47 / ISO 639), and currency (ISO 4217) codes, used throughout addresses and offerings.
Authoritative identifiers for the people connected to the business, used in a Person sameAs.
W3C portable, cryptographically verifiable identifiers. Part of the trust layer Schema.org does not provide.
W3C standard for provable claims about an entity, closing the provenance and verification gap.
An authoritative reference for place names and geographic areas.
The emerging files and conventions that tell AI models and autonomous agents how to read and trust the entity. Outside Schema.org, increasingly where resolution happens.
The Schema Markup Validator and the Google Rich Results Test check the markup. Google also has its own required and recommended fields per feature.
Who asserts a fact, when it was true, and how the entity is kept distinct from similar ones. These are engineered around the vocabulary, not expressed by it.
Schema Model plugin by PerfectReputations™. Names link to the official definitions on schema.org.
