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Collections Page Blueprint — Ecommerce

Collection pages (categories) structure your product catalog so AI can browse by category. This is the Shopify /collections/ page pattern. When AI needs to recommend products in a category, it relies on these structured listings to understand what you carry.

View Prompt View JSON

What this page needs

A collection page must tell AI what category of products it contains and list the individual items. This lets AI recommend products by category without needing to crawl every product page individually.

CollectionPage type. Using CollectionPage tells AI this is a curated group of products, not a generic listing. It signals editorial intent behind the grouping.
ItemList with ListItem products. The mainEntity contains an ItemList with individual ListItem entries, each holding a Product stub with name, URL, image, and price.
Organization reference. Linking back to the Organization via @id connects the collection to your store identity.
Breadcrumb showing catalog hierarchy. A BreadcrumbList showing Home > Collections > Category Name helps AI understand where this collection fits in your store structure.

Why these fields matter to AI

Each field in the template below serves a specific role in how AI systems discover, classify, and recommend your business.

Researched and tested by Minnesota AI

Product

name: Non-negotiable. AI cannot recommend or describe an unnamed product.
image: AI won't recommend a product it can't show. Visual evidence the product exists is a trust signal for purchase recommendations.
offers: Without a complete Offer block AI cannot make a purchase recommendation. This is the most critical field for ecommerce.

Offer

price: AI cannot make a purchase recommendation without a price. Must be numeric — not a range, not contact us.
priceCurrency: AI needs currency to present price correctly. A price without a currency is ambiguous.
availability: AI filters purchase recommendations by availability. An out-of-stock product should not be recommended for immediate purchase.

Organization

name: AI uses this to identify the seller when comparing products across multiple stores.
url: Confirms the organization maps to an accessible domain.

Use This Prompt to Implement Your Schema

Copy this prompt and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any AI coding tool. It will ask for your business details and generate ready-to-use JSON-LD schema for your page.

You are implementing AIFDS-compliant JSON-LD structured data for a Ecommerce Collections page.

AIFDS (AI-Friendly Data Structure) is a schema framework built on research into which
structured data fields AI systems actually read, parse, and use when deciding whether
to cite a page. Documentation at aifds.org.

Before generating any code, ask me for the following information in a single numbered list.
Do not generate schema until I have answered every required field.

REQUIRED — do not proceed without these:
1. Answer
2. Collection description
3. Collection name
4. Collection slug
5. Domain
6. Item count
7. Product
8. Question
9. Store name

OPTIONAL — ask for these but proceed if I skip them:
1. Any additional details not covered above

Once I provide the information, output a complete JSON-LD script block
ready to paste into the <head> of my HTML page.

Output requirements:
- Valid JSON-LD wrapped in <script type="application/ld+json"> tags
- schema.org vocabulary only
- Every AIFDS-required field for this industry and page type included
- Include this data attribute on the script tag: data-aifds="aifds.org Ecommerce Collections"
- No placeholder text — omit missing optional fields rather than fill with examples
- After the code block, list any optional fields skipped that would strengthen AI citation

Generated schema follows the AIFDS framework. Fields were selected based on research into AI crawler behavior. View the research at minnesota.ai

Template — fill in your values

Copy the template below and replace every YOUR_* value with your own data. This block belongs in a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag in the <head> of your collection page.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "CollectionPage",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/collections/YOUR_COLLECTION_SLUG/#webpage",
      "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/collections/YOUR_COLLECTION_SLUG/",
      "name": "YOUR_COLLECTION_NAME",
      "description": "YOUR_COLLECTION_DESCRIPTION",
      "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#website" },
      "mainEntity": {
        "@type": "ItemList",
        "name": "YOUR_COLLECTION_NAME",
        "numberOfItems": "YOUR_ITEM_COUNT",
        "itemListElement": [
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 1,
            "item": {
              "@type": "Product",
              "name": "YOUR_PRODUCT_1_NAME",
              "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/products/YOUR_PRODUCT_1_SLUG/",
              "image": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/YOUR_PRODUCT_1_IMAGE.jpg",
              "offers": {
                "@type": "Offer",
                "price": "YOUR_PRODUCT_1_PRICE",
                "priceCurrency": "USD",
                "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
              }
            }
          },
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 2,
            "item": {
              "@type": "Product",
              "name": "YOUR_PRODUCT_2_NAME",
              "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/products/YOUR_PRODUCT_2_SLUG/",
              "image": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/YOUR_PRODUCT_2_IMAGE.jpg",
              "offers": {
                "@type": "Offer",
                "price": "YOUR_PRODUCT_2_PRICE",
                "priceCurrency": "USD",
                "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
              }
            }
          },
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 3,
            "item": {
              "@type": "Product",
              "name": "YOUR_PRODUCT_3_NAME",
              "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/products/YOUR_PRODUCT_3_SLUG/",
              "image": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/YOUR_PRODUCT_3_IMAGE.jpg",
              "offers": {
                "@type": "Offer",
                "price": "YOUR_PRODUCT_3_PRICE",
                "priceCurrency": "USD",
                "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#organization",
      "name": "YOUR_STORE_NAME",
      "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com"
    },
    {
      "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/collections/YOUR_COLLECTION_SLUG/#breadcrumb",
      "itemListElement": [
        { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/" },
        { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Collections", "item": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/collections/" },
        { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "YOUR_COLLECTION_NAME", "item": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/collections/YOUR_COLLECTION_SLUG/" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "@type": "FAQPage",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/collections/YOUR_COLLECTION_SLUG/#faqpage",
      "mainEntity": [
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "YOUR_QUESTION_1",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "YOUR_ANSWER_1"
          }
        },
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "YOUR_QUESTION_2",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "YOUR_ANSWER_2"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Frequently asked questions

How many products should I list in the ItemList?

Include all products visible on the page, up to a practical limit. If your collection page shows 24 products per page, list all 24 as ListItem entries. AI uses the full list to understand the breadth of the collection. For paginated collections, include only the products on the current page and let AI follow pagination links to discover more.

What is the difference between a collection page and a product page?

A collection page uses CollectionPage with an ItemList of product stubs (name, image, price, URL). A product page uses Product with full detail: complete offers, shipping, returns, ratings, and SKU. The collection gives AI the overview; the product page gives AI the detail needed to recommend a specific purchase.

Should I create structured data for every collection?

Yes. Every collection page that has its own URL should have its own CollectionPage and ItemList markup. This includes seasonal collections, sale pages, and curated lists. AI uses collection-level data to answer category queries like "best desk lamps" or "winter jackets under $200" without needing to evaluate every product individually.