AI Overviews are changing what it means to be visible in search. When answers are delivered directly in the results, clicks matter less than whether your brand is cited at all. The challenge for marketers is clear. AI systems must first understand your content before they can trust it enough to surface it.
While Google continues to emphasize the importance of structured data for AI-powered features, it has not clearly defined what influences inclusion in AI Overviews, leaving brands to uncover which signals truly drive AI visibility.
At Schema App, we have been working on our own site and with our enterprise clients, closely observing how Schema Markup and Entity Linking correlate with AI Overview visibility. In some instances, advanced, connected Schema Markup was already on the website, and Entity Linking was the missing piece to further improve clarity for the entities mentioned on a page. In one case, Schema Markup was added, followed by Entity Linking, to assess the impact of both strategies on AIO independently.
Key Result: Schema App measured a 19.72% increase in AI Overview visibility after implementing robust Entity Linking with Entity Hub.
Our hypothesis is that Schema App’s Entity Linking helps AI systems better understand entities and their context on the page and website, resulting in Google’s confidence that the content answers the user’s question.
Based on Schema App data, we have observed consistent trends across multiple datasets. We can confidently state that when Entity Linking is added to advanced Schema Markup using Schema App, AI Overview visibility improves.
This case study outlines how Entity Linking supports content visibility in AI-generated responses.
Schema App’s Website: Schema Markup Builds a Foundation for AI Understanding
Schema App’s website is intentionally structured to be easily understood by machines. Our content is supported by:
- Extensive connected Schema Markup
- Clearly defined entities and relationships embedded in Schema Markup using Schema App
- A connected Knowledge Graph that reflects topical relationships across the site
Website performance analysis consistently shows that pages enriched with Schema Markup account for the vast majority of impressions and search visibility. This reinforces a core principle of AI search: content that is structured, connected, and semantically clear is easier for AI systems to interpret and reuse.
The Role of Entity Linking in AI Overview Visibility
Entity Linking adds an additional layer of clarity by connecting on-page entities to internally defined entities within your content (internal Entity Linking), or to known entities on authoritative external knowledge bases, such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Google’s Knowledge Graph (external Entity Linking). These references help AI systems disambiguate meaning and understand how concepts relate within a broader knowledge ecosystem.
At Tech SEO Connect in North Carolina in December 2025, Krishna Madhaven from Microsoft described how they use Schema Markup for “steering”, helping build confidence with AI on the correct answer. We implemented Entity Linking across the Schema App website in October, using Schema App’s scalable Entity Linking feature. As a result, we saw a 19.72% increase in AI Overview visibility around the entities/topics we optimized. We saw the following results:
In addition, we also observed:
- Growth in the number of keywords where our content appeared in AI Overviews
- More consistent topical alignment between AI citations and our intended areas of authority
- Broader visibility across entity-related queries rather than isolated keyword wins
Measuring AIO Visibility After Entity Linking Implementation on Schema App’s Site
To better understand this correlation, we analyzed Schema App’s website performance around a defined group of entities, or “topics”.
At the beginning of October, Schema App began implementing Entity Linking using Entity Hub across a prioritized set of entities tied to our topic authority goal of being known for “Entity SEO” concepts, including:
- Entity Linking
- Entity SEO
- Entities
- Entity
To evaluate impact without relying on individual keyword volatility, we analyzed AI Overview visibility for queries containing “entit”. This would then capture both “entity” and “entities” related queries.
What We Observed
When comparing AI Overview visibility from October 15, 2025 (during the active Entity Linking implementation) to December 15, 2025 (following the implementation), we observed a 19.72% increase in AI Overview visibility for keywords containing “entit.”
This upward trend is evident in the AI Overview visibility graph seen below, with a clear lift over time rather than a single spike. The increase aligns closely with the period immediately following the Entity Linking rollout. You may notice a brief dip in visibility at the beginning of November, which coincided with a temporary removal of linked entities during testing. Once those entities were restored, AI Overview visibility rebounded and continued to climb.
The trend’s timing and consistency provide strong internal evidence that Entity Linking increases eligibility for AI Overview citations when applied to high-priority entities.
A Schema App Customer’s AIO Performance After Entity Linking
While our website performance provides meaningful directional insight, we have seen additional validation of Entity Linking’s impact on AI Overview visibility across customer implementations where Entity Linking has been applied consistently over time.
AIO Visibility Growth Aligned With Entity Linking
When reviewing a Customer’s AI Overview performance over a twelve-month period, distinct inflection points emerge. Major lifts in the volume of keywords triggering AI Overview results occurred in March, April, and September. These periods closely align with phases during which advanced Schema Markup and, later, Entity Linking were introduced on their website, as highlighted in red.
The visualization of the Volume of Keywords With AI Overview Results reflects this pattern, showing a sharp increase beginning between March and April followed by steady growth throughout the year. The customer has confirmed that no other major SEO initiatives were underway during this time, reinforcing the correlation between deeper entity optimization and increased AI Overview visibility.
Verdict: Entity Linking Drives AIO Visibility
Schema App and our customers’ results strongly suggest that Entity Linking drives AI Overview performance. Why? Our hypothesis is that Entity Linking provides semantic clarity, allowing AI to have confidence that the content will satisfy the customer. As a result, AI systems are better able to understand content, associate it with relevant queries, and surface it in AI-generated responses.
What’s even more interesting is that we are seeing improvements not only in the quantity of AI Overview citations, but in the quality of the queries those citations appear for. Across our own site and our customers’, Entity Linking is helping content surface for queries that more closely align with top-priority entities. This means that Entity Linking not only increases AIO visibility but also increases visibility on topics that matter.
Learn how Schema App’s Entity Linking helped Brightview Senior Living win local search and future-proof their SEO strategy
Turning AI Overview Visibility Into a Scalable Strategy
AI Overviews favor content that AI systems can clearly understand. Across our website and customer implementations, we consistently see that stronger entity clarity is associated with greater AI Overview visibility.
Entity Linking helps create that clarity by reinforcing meaning, relationships, and topical focus at scale. When entities are well defined and consistently connected, AI systems are better equipped to interpret content and select it for AI-generated responses.
Schema App’s Entity Hub makes this approach scalable. It enables teams to identify priority entities, manage them centrally, and connect them across content through Entity Linking and Schema Markup, effectively building a Content Knowledge Graph.
As AI search continues to evolve, building entity clarity into your content strategy is no longer optional. It is how brands position themselves to be understood, trusted, and cited in AI Overviews. If you’re ready to take that next step, get started with Schema App’s Entity Hub.
Andrea Badder is the Content and SEO Manager at Schema App. She specializes in SEO and develops educational resources to help marketing teams understand the value of Schema Markup and Content Knowledge Graphs for semantic search, content strategy, and AI-driven initiatives. Prior to joining Schema App, Andrea worked as a brand strategist and copywriter at a marketing agency. She is also a graduate from the University of Guelph.