WebSite Schema with SearchAction: Making Your Site Search AI-Discoverable

What Is WebSite Schema?

WebSite Schema is a schema.org type that describes a website as a whole -- its name, URL, alternative names, publisher, and search capabilities. Unlike Article or Product Schema that describe individual pages, WebSite Schema provides metadata about the entire site, helping search engines and AI models understand the entity that your website represents.

When combined with the SearchAction property, WebSite Schema also tells Google and AI systems that your site offers internal search and provides the URL pattern needed to execute searches. This enables features like Google's sitelinks search box and helps AI models understand the navigational structure of your site.

WebSite Schema is one of the foundational schema types you should implement alongside Organization Schema. Together, they give AI models a complete picture of who you are (Organization) and what your site offers (WebSite). For the broader context on structured data in AI SEO, see our JSON-LD basics guide.

The SearchAction Component

SearchAction is a schema.org action type that describes how to perform a search on your website. When nested inside WebSite Schema as a potentialAction, it tells search engines the exact URL pattern to use when sending a search query to your site.

The SearchAction requires two key pieces of information:

1. Target URL template -- The URL pattern with a placeholder for the search query (e.g., https://example.com/search?q={search_term_string})
2. Input specification -- The name of the query parameter and whether it is required

When Google encounters this markup, it may display a sitelinks search box in search results for your brand, allowing users to search your site directly from Google's results page.

How it works technically

When a user types a query into the sitelinks search box, Google replaces the {search_term_string} placeholder in your target URL with the user's query and redirects them to the resulting URL on your site. This means your internal search must accept the query parameter you specify and return relevant results.

Complete Implementation Example

Here is the complete JSON-LD implementation for WebSite Schema with SearchAction. This block should be placed on your homepage.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebSite",
  "name": "AImetrico",
  "alternateName": ["AI Metrico", "AImetrico.com"],
  "url": "https://aimetrico.com",
  "description": "AI SEO visibility platform for measuring and improving your presence in AI-generated search results.",
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "AImetrico",
    "url": "https://aimetrico.com"
  },
  "inLanguage": "en",
  "potentialAction": {
    "@type": "SearchAction",
    "target": {
      "@type": "EntryPoint",
      "urlTemplate": "https://aimetrico.com/search?q={search_term_string}"
    },
    "query-input": "required name=search_term_string"
  }
}

Key elements explained

• name -- Your website's official name, exactly as you want AI to reference it
• alternateName -- Common variations, abbreviations, or misspellings users might use
• url -- The canonical homepage URL (with https://)
• publisher -- Reference to your Organization entity
• potentialAction -- The SearchAction block with your search URL template
• query-input -- Tells Google the placeholder name and that a query is required

Required and Recommended Properties

The following table lists all properties for WebSite Schema, indicating which are required for basic functionality and which are recommended for optimal AI SEO.

| Property | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | @type | Yes | Must be "WebSite" | | name | Yes | Official name of the website | | url | Yes | Canonical homepage URL | | alternateName | Recommended | Array of name variations, abbreviations | | description | Recommended | Brief description of the website's purpose | | publisher | Recommended | Reference to the Organization entity | | inLanguage | Recommended | Primary language code (e.g., "en") | | potentialAction | For search box | SearchAction with target URL template | | query-input | For search box | Input specification for the search parameter |

The alternateName property and AI

The alternateName array is particularly valuable for AI SEO. AI models sometimes receive queries that use variations of your brand name ("AImetrico" vs "AI Metrico" vs "aimetrico.com"). By listing common variations in alternateName, you help AI models recognize that these all refer to the same entity.

The Sitelinks Search Box

The sitelinks search box is a Google Search feature that displays a search field directly in the search results when users search for your brand name. This allows users to search your website without first visiting your homepage. It appears below your site's main listing with an input field labeled "Search [sitename]."

Requirements for the sitelinks search box

1. WebSite Schema with SearchAction on your homepage
2. A working internal search that returns relevant results
3. Sufficient site authority -- Google decides whether to display the search box based on your site's importance and user behavior
4. Correct URL template -- The urlTemplate must work when the placeholder is replaced with a real query

Opting out

If you do not want the sitelinks search box (for example, if your internal search provides poor results), you can signal this to Google using a meta tag:

<meta name="google" content="nositelinkssearchbox">

However, for most sites, the sitelinks search box is a positive feature that increases engagement and demonstrates site authority.

WebSite Schema for AI SEO

Beyond the sitelinks search box, WebSite Schema provides several AI SEO benefits that make it worth implementing even if Google does not display the search box for your site.

Entity recognition

The name and alternateName properties help AI models identify your website as a distinct entity. When ChatGPT encounters a reference to "AImetrico" in web content, the WebSite Schema confirms that this is the name of a specific website at aimetrico.com -- not a generic term or a different entity.

Site scope understanding

The description property tells AI models what your site is about at a high level. This influences which queries AI considers your site relevant for. A description like "AI SEO visibility platform for measuring and improving your presence in AI-generated search results" helps AI match your site to queries about AI SEO tools.

Publisher chain

The publisher property links your website to your Organization entity, creating a structured relationship that AI models use to assess authority. This is especially important when combined with Organization Schema that includes sameAs links to your social profiles, Wikipedia page, and other authoritative references.

Combining with Organization Schema

Your homepage should typically include both WebSite Schema and Organization Schema. These serve complementary purposes:

• WebSite Schema -- describes the website (name, URL, search capability)
• Organization Schema -- describes the organization behind it (team, contact, social profiles)

Both can be placed on the same page as separate JSON-LD blocks.

Common Implementation Mistakes

Avoid these frequent errors when implementing WebSite Schema with SearchAction.

1. Placing WebSite Schema on every page -- WebSite Schema belongs on the homepage only. Inner pages should use Article, Product, FAQPage, or other page-specific schema types.

2. Invalid search URL template -- The urlTemplate must work when the placeholder is replaced with a real query. Test by manually substituting a search term into the URL and verifying that your site returns results.

3. Missing query-input property -- The query-input field tells Google how to use the URL template. Without it, the SearchAction is incomplete and the sitelinks search box will not appear.

4. Inconsistent site name -- The name property in WebSite Schema must match the site name used in your title tags, Organization Schema, and other references. Inconsistency confuses entity recognition.

5. Using http instead of https -- The url property must use https if your site uses HTTPS. A mismatch can prevent proper entity matching.

6. Forgetting alternateName -- If users commonly misspell or abbreviate your brand name, include those variations. This small addition improves AI entity matching for queries using non-standard name forms.

For validation of your implementation, use the tools described in our testing structured data guide.