Session 2.5: Person Schema

Course → Module 2: Structured Data: Speaking Google's Language

Session 5 of 10

Organizations do not exist in isolation. They are founded by people, managed by people, and represented by people. Google's Knowledge Graph treats people as distinct entities, and a well-structured Person schema does two things: it establishes the individual as a recognized entity, and it strengthens the Organization entity by creating a verified relationship between the two.

If you are a founder, author, or public-facing representative of your business, your personal entity is an asset. This session shows you how to formalize it.

When to Use Person Schema

Person schema is appropriate when:

The individual is a founder, CEO, or director of the organization
The individual is a published author (articles, books, courses)
The individual has a personal brand that contributes to the organization's credibility
The individual speaks at events, appears in media, or holds notable credentials

Person schema typically appears on an About page, an author bio page, or alongside Article schema to identify the author.

Critical Properties

Property	Type	Purpose	Priority
`name`	Text	Full name as publicly known	Required
`jobTitle`	Text	Current role	Required
`worksFor`	Organization	Links person to their organization	Required
`url`	URL	Personal page or bio page	Required
`image`	URL	Professional headshot	Recommended
`sameAs`	URL array	Personal social and professional profiles	Required
`alumniOf`	Organization	Educational background	Optional
`knowsAbout`	Text or URL array	Areas of expertise	Optional
`award`	Text	Recognition received	Optional
`nationality`	Country	Helps with disambiguation	Optional

Complete Example

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "@id": "https://www.example.com/#person-ahmad-rizal",
  "name": "Ahmad Rizal",
  "givenName": "Ahmad",
  "familyName": "Rizal",
  "jobTitle": "Director",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/about/",
  "image": "https://www.example.com/images/ahmad-rizal.jpg",
  "worksFor": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "@id": "https://www.example.com/#organization",
    "name": "Example Industries"
  },
  "alumniOf": {
    "@type": "CollegeOrUniversity",
    "name": "Universitas Indonesia"
  },
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Industrial automation",
    "Manufacturing systems",
    "Entity infrastructure"
  ],
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmadrizal",
    "https://twitter.com/ahmadrizal",
    "https://www.instagram.com/ahmadrizal",
    "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12345678"
  ]
}
</script>

Connecting Person to Organization

Notice the @id values in the example. The Person has @id: "#person-ahmad-rizal" and references the Organization with @id: "#organization". This is the same @id used in the Organization schema from Session 2.4. When Google encounters both blocks, it connects them into a single entity graph.

The connection works both ways. In your Organization schema, the founder property should reference the Person:

"founder": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "@id": "https://www.example.com/#person-ahmad-rizal",
  "name": "Ahmad Rizal"
}

And in your Person schema, the worksFor property references the Organization:

"worksFor": {
  "@type": "Organization",
  "@id": "https://www.example.com/#organization",
  "name": "Example Industries"
}

This bidirectional reference is far more powerful than either link alone. We will explore this pattern in depth in Session 2.9.

Person Schema for Authors

If the person publishes content (blog posts, articles, courses), Person schema also connects to Article schema through the author property. Every article authored by this person reinforces their entity. This is how Google builds the concept of "author authority" that it uses in search quality evaluation.

"author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "@id": "https://www.example.com/#person-ahmad-rizal",
  "name": "Ahmad Rizal"
}

The @id reference means Google does not need to re-parse the Person. It already knows who Ahmad Rizal is from the Person schema on the About page. The Article schema just points to that existing entity.

Key concept: A person is not a secondary entity. For many businesses, especially professional services and personal brands, the founder's entity IS the business's primary trust signal. Investors, clients, and search engines all evaluate the person behind the brand.

Common Mistakes With Person Schema

Using different name formats across schemas. If your Organization schema says "Ahmad Rizal" as founder and your Person schema says "A. Rizal," Google may treat them as different people.
Missing sameAs links. A Person schema without sameAs is a person without connections. Include LinkedIn, personal website, and any other authoritative profiles.
Omitting worksFor. Without this, the Person entity floats freely, disconnected from the Organization entity.
Using a generic headshot URL. The image should be crawlable, professional, and consistent with photos on your social profiles.

Assignment

Create a Person schema block for the primary founder or representative of your entity.

Include all required properties from the table above.
Use @id values that match the Organization schema you built in Session 2.4.
Add at least three sameAs URLs. These should be the person's personal profiles, not the company profiles.
Verify that the worksFor reference uses the same @id as your Organization schema.
Validate using the Schema Markup Validator.

Person Schema