I wanted to understand how AI-powered search tools — things like ChatGPT browsing, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews — actually crawl and interpret a static site. Most SEO advice is still written for traditional search engines. Does structured data actually help AI crawlers, or are they just parsing the raw HTML?
The question: if I add JSON-LD schema markup to a simple Hugo site, does it measurably change how AI tools understand and reference the content?
The way people find information is changing. Traditional search engines still matter, but AI-powered tools — ChatGPT browsing, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude’s web access — are becoming a significant discovery channel. If your content is well-structured and easy for these systems to parse, you’re more likely to be cited, referenced, and surfaced.