The SEO industry has been telling businesses to add schema markup to improve their AI visibility. Ahrefs just tested that theory at scale. The results are uncomfortable.
In a study tracking 1,885 pages that added structured data markup, Ahrefs found that AI citations barely moved. The pages that gained schema markup saw no statistically significant improvement in how often they were cited in AI-generated overviews.
That's a problem for every SEO consultant who has been selling schema implementation as an AI readiness strategy.
The broader context makes this even more interesting. A separate analysis from the same research programme found that top-10 Google citations in AI overviews dropped from 76% to 38% over the study period. AI systems are increasingly pulling from sources outside the traditional search rankings.
This means the old playbook of ranking well in Google and assuming AI citations would follow is breaking down. The platforms generating AI overviews are building their own quality signals, and those signals don't map neatly onto the signals that drive traditional search rankings.
The drop in AI overview citations coming from top-10 Google search results
For Australian businesses investing in SEO, this raises a practical question: where should the effort go?
The answer isn't to stop implementing schema markup. Structured data still helps search engines understand your content, supports rich results and improves how your pages appear in traditional search. Those are real benefits.
But if your SEO strategy for 2026 is built around the assumption that better structured data equals more AI visibility, you need to rethink.
What the research suggests actually drives AI citations is more fundamental. Original data that can't be found elsewhere. Clear, authoritative statements on specific topics. Content that directly answers questions rather than optimising around keywords.
This is why businesses with proprietary datasets, original research or genuine subject matter expertise have a structural advantage in AI search. The machines aren't looking for the best-optimised page. They're looking for the most useful answer.
The businesses winning in AI search aren't the ones with the cleanest markup. They're the ones with the most original thinking.
The tactical takeaway: keep your schema markup clean, but don't treat it as your AI strategy. Invest instead in content that contains information AI systems can't find anywhere else. That's the moat.
Sources: Ahrefs, Search Engine Land
