Organizations Nonprofit Research Organization

Homepage Blueprint — Research Organization

The homepage is the identity anchor for a research organization. It tells AI systems who the institute is, what research domains it covers, where it operates, and who it reports to. This blueprint provides the complete JSON-LD graph your homepage needs so AI can classify, cite, and recommend your think tank, lab, or research institute with confidence.

What this page needs

The homepage is the single most important page for AI discoverability. It is where AI systems look first to understand who you are and whether your research organization is worth citing. Every other page on the site inherits credibility from what the homepage declares.

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

ResearchOrganization

name
Non-negotiable. AI cannot cite or recommend an unnamed organization.
url
AI needs a stable URL to attribute recommendations and route users correctly.
description
AI uses this to match the nonprofit to cause-related queries. Must describe the mission, not the website.
logo
Visual identity signal. AI uses logo presence to assess institutional legitimacy.
foundingDate
AI uses founding date to signal organizational stability. Established nonprofits get higher recommendation confidence.
areaServed
AI uses this to match the nonprofit to location-specific queries. Local, national, or international — specify it.
sameAs
AI cross-references sameAs links to confirm the organization exists and is verified. Charity rating sites are the strongest trust signals.
address
AI uses address to confirm the nonprofit is a real, locatable entity. Required for trust-based recommendations.

Organization

name
Non-negotiable. AI cannot cite or recommend an unnamed organization.
url
AI needs a stable URL to attribute recommendations and route users correctly.

WebSite

@id
All other schema nodes reference this ID. Without it the graph is disconnected.

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.

Implementation Prompt · Homepage
You are implementing AIFDS-compliant JSON-LD structured data for a Research Organization Homepage 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. Area served
2. City
3. Company
4. Country
5. Domain
6. Faq answer
7. Faq question
8. Founding date
9. Handle
10. Homepage title
11. Logo
12. Organization description
13. Organization name
14. Parent domain
15. Parent organization
16. Profile
17. Site name
18. State
19. Street address
20. Zip

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 Research Organization Homepage"
- 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 homepage.

JSON-LD · Research Organization Homepage
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "ResearchOrganization",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#organization",
      "name": "YOUR_ORGANIZATION_NAME",
      "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com",
      "logo": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/YOUR_LOGO.png",
      "description": "YOUR_ORGANIZATION_DESCRIPTION",
      "foundingDate": "YOUR_FOUNDING_DATE",
      "areaServed": "YOUR_AREA_SERVED",
      "parentOrganization": {
        "@type": "Organization",
        "name": "YOUR_PARENT_ORGANIZATION",
        "url": "https://YOUR_PARENT_DOMAIN.com"
      },
      "sameAs": [
        "https://www.linkedin.com/company/YOUR_COMPANY",
        "https://twitter.com/YOUR_HANDLE",
        "https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YOUR_PROFILE"
      ],
      "address": {
        "@type": "PostalAddress",
        "streetAddress": "YOUR_STREET_ADDRESS",
        "addressLocality": "YOUR_CITY",
        "addressRegion": "YOUR_STATE",
        "postalCode": "YOUR_ZIP",
        "addressCountry": "YOUR_COUNTRY"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "WebSite",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#website",
      "name": "YOUR_SITE_NAME",
      "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com",
      "publisher": {
        "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#organization"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "WebPage",
      "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#webpage",
      "url": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/",
      "name": "YOUR_HOMEPAGE_TITLE",
      "isPartOf": {
        "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#website"
      },
      "about": {
        "@id": "https://YOUR_DOMAIN.com/#organization"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "FAQPage",
      "mainEntity": [
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "YOUR_FAQ_QUESTION_1",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "YOUR_FAQ_ANSWER_1"
          }
        },
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "YOUR_FAQ_QUESTION_2",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "YOUR_FAQ_ANSWER_2"
          }
        },
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "YOUR_FAQ_QUESTION_3",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "YOUR_FAQ_ANSWER_3"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ResearchOrganization and EducationalOrganization?

ResearchOrganization signals that your primary mission is conducting research — think tanks, independent labs, policy institutes. EducationalOrganization is for institutions whose primary purpose is teaching, like universities and schools. If your institute is part of a university but operates as a dedicated research center, use ResearchOrganization and reference the university via parentOrganization.

How should I describe my research focus areas in structured data?

Use the description field to clearly state your research domains in plain language. AI reads this field to classify what topics your institute covers. Be specific — "climate adaptation policy for coastal cities" is far more useful to AI than "environmental research." You can also list focus areas in the knowsAbout property if you want to enumerate them separately.

Why does institutional identity matter for AI citation?

AI systems use your ResearchOrganization node to decide whether your institute is a credible source. A well-structured identity with a founding date, parent organization, address, and verified social profiles tells AI that your organization is established, accountable, and worth citing. Without this, AI treats your site as an anonymous web page.

Test your structured data

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