Most sites that have structured data have the same thing: a name, a URL, a logo, maybe a sameAs link to LinkedIn. AI systems read it and learn that your business exists.

That’s it. They don’t learn what you know.

There’s one property that fixes this, it’s been in the Schema.org spec for years, and it’s rarely implemented in practice.

What knowsAbout Does (and Why It’s Not Just Another Schema Field)

knowsAbout is a property on both Organization and Person schema that explicitly lists the topics your entity has knowledge of.

Schema.org defines it as indicating “a topic that is known about – suggesting possible expertise but not implying it.” That careful language is intentional. It doesn’t overclaim. It signals.

One clarification worth making now: about and knowsAbout are different properties. about describes what a specific page or piece of content is about. knowsAbout describes what an entity – your organization or you as a person – has knowledge of. One is about the document. The other is about the expert behind it.

When an AI system retrieves your site during a query about, say, structured data for Kajabi, it does a fast entity evaluation: who is this, what are they about, can I trust them on this topic? Your Organization schema answers the first two questions. Without knowsAbout, that third signal is weaker and less explicit.

What the Typical Organization Schema Looks Like (and What It’s Missing)

Here’s what most sites have:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Business Name",
  "url": "https://yourbusiness.com",
  "logo": "https://yourbusiness.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourbusiness"
  ]
}

Functional. Minimal. Tells AI your business exists and has a LinkedIn page.

Here’s the same block with knowsAbout added:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Business Name",
  "url": "https://yourbusiness.com",
  "logo": "https://yourbusiness.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourbusiness"
  ],
  "knowsAbout": [
    {
      "@type": "Thing",
      "name": "JSON-LD Structured Data",
      "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON-LD"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Thing",
      "name": "Generative Engine Optimization"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Thing",
      "name": "Kajabi SEO"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Thing",
      "name": "Schema Markup for AI Search"
    }
  ]
}

Each topic listed is a signal. Where you can link the topic to a Wikipedia page or Wikidata entity, do it. That sameAs inside the Thing object reduces ambiguity – the AI doesn’t have to guess which “structured data” you mean.

Why Specificity Beats Volume Here

Don’t list 20 topics. List the ones you actually cover in depth.

Say you’re a course creator on Kajabi who teaches email marketing for small businesses. Your knowsAbout array should list “Email Marketing for Small Businesses,” “Email Automation,” maybe “Kajabi Email Broadcasts” – not a grab bag of every subject adjacent to your niche. The same logic applies to a law firm, a crypto tax consultancy, or an AI visibility agency. Declare the topics where you have real content depth, not the topics you wish you ranked for.

knowsAbout works as a topical authority declaration. AI systems appear to cross-reference it against your actual content. If your schema says you know about “email marketing” but you have two articles on it from 2021, that mismatch doesn’t help you. If your schema lists “AI-readable site structure” and you have twelve posts covering it from multiple angles, that alignment reinforces the signal.

The goal is accuracy, not coverage. Declare what your content already proves.

How to Add This on Kajabi, Squarespace, and Other Platforms Without Code Access

If you’re on Kajabi, Squarespace, or any platform that doesn’t let you edit the <head> directly, you have two options.

Option 1: Google Tag Manager

Google has stated that JSON-LD injected via Google Tag Manager can be processed. Create a Custom HTML tag, paste your full Organization schema block including knowsAbout, and fire it on All Pages. It’s not ideal, but it works and it’s the fastest path if your platform locks you out of the head.

Option 2: A single HTML embed on your homepage

Some platforms (including Kajabi) allow raw HTML in page sections or footers. Drop the full JSON-LD script block there. It won’t be in the <head>, but crawlers and AI systems will find it.

After implementing, validate at validator.schema.org and check Google Search Console’s Enhancement reports to confirm it’s being read.

The Person Schema Version Matters Too

If you’re a solo creator or founder, you want this on your Person schema as well, not just your organization.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Your Name",
  "jobTitle": "Founder",
  "url": "https://yourbusiness.com/about",
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Structured Data for Course Creators",
    "LLM Citation Strategy",
    "Kajabi Schema Implementation"
  ],
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourprofile"
  ]
}

The string format (just text, no @type: Thing) works fine for Person schema when you don’t have Wikipedia links to attach. For Organization, the Thing format with sameAs is generally more precise.

Connect the two with a worksFor or founder property, and you’ve built a graph – one entity confirming the other’s expertise.

FAQ

Q: Does knowsAbout directly affect Google rankings?

A: Not in the traditional ranking sense. It strengthens entity signals that influence how clearly AI systems understand your topical authority, which may affect citation likelihood in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT responses – not traditional blue-link position.

Q: How many topics should I list in knowsAbout?

A: Four to eight is a practical range. List the topics your content most thoroughly covers. More than ten starts to look like keyword stuffing; fewer than three doesn’t give AI systems enough to work with.

Q: Does Kajabi support knowsAbout natively?

A: No. Kajabi generates minimal Organization schema from your site settings and doesn’t expose advanced properties like knowsAbout. You’ll need to add it manually via Google Tag Manager or a raw HTML embed.

Q: Can I use plain text strings instead of @type: Thing objects in Organization schema?

A: You can. Schema.org accepts both string values and Thing objects. The Thing format with a sameAs link to Wikipedia or Wikidata is generally more precise because it removes ambiguity – the AI knows exactly which entity you’re referencing.

Q: Will adding knowsAbout help if my content isn’t already covering those topics?

A: Unlikely. AI systems appear to cross-reference schema signals against your actual content. Declaring expertise in a topic you haven’t written about in depth won’t move the needle, and risks a mismatch that weakens trust signals rather than building them.

Q: Where does the JSON-LD script go?

A: Ideally in the <head> of every page. On platforms where that’s not possible, Google Tag Manager is the recommended workaround. A footer embed also works in most cases.

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Most sites have schema that tells AI what they are. Almost none have schema that tells AI what they know.

That gap is still very easy to close.

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AI Visibility Studio helps websites become easier for AI systems to find, read, and cite.