Does your app or SaaS landing page identify itself as software to AI?
Confirms your app or SaaS pages emit SoftwareApplication markup with price, category, and ratings.
What this signal tests
We check whether your app or SaaS landing pages publish SoftwareApplication structured data (or a subtype like WebApplication or MobileApplication) with the name, offer price (0 for free apps), applicationCategory, operatingSystem, and either an aggregateRating or at least one review. This is the markup AI tools use to identify and compare software products.
Why it matters for your visibility in AI
AI software recommendation flows are growing fast. When a user asks ChatGPT for the best project management tool for a 10-person team or a Mac alternative to Photoshop, the AI extracts candidates from SoftwareApplication-marked pages. Sites without the markup are not in the comparison pool, even when their product is genuinely the best fit. Classic SEO does not solve this; the AI is looking at structured data, not at search rankings. The ratings field is particularly load-bearing. AI tools recommending software lean heavily on aggregated user ratings to filter and rank candidates. A product without aggregateRating either appears with a no rating warning or is skipped entirely in favour of competitors with visible scores. Emitting your real, honest rating in structured data is one of the highest-ROI moves a SaaS company can make for AI discoverability.
Pass criteria at a glance
| Criterion | Passes when |
|---|---|
| name + offers.price + (aggregateRating OR review). |
How we test it
We crawl your software product landing pages and look for SoftwareApplication structured data. We confirm name, an offers field with price (which can be 0 for free or freemium products), applicationCategory (such as BusinessApplication or DesignApplication), and operatingSystem (Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, or a combination). We also confirm either aggregateRating with ratingValue and ratingCount, or at least one Review object.
Show technical detection method
@type SoftwareApplication/subtype with required fields.
If your site fails: how to fix it
- Identify your product landing pages. Most SaaS sites have a few: the main product page, alternative-to pages, integration pages. The main product page is the priority.
- Add SoftwareApplication JSON-LD with name, offers (including price, priceCurrency, and offers.url to your pricing page), applicationCategory matching the Schema.org enum, and operatingSystem.
- Use a specific subtype where possible: WebApplication for SaaS, MobileApplication for mobile apps, DesktopApplication for installed software. Subtypes give AI tools more precise categorisation.
- Add aggregateRating with ratingValue (your average rating), ratingCount (the number of reviews), and bestRating (usually 5). Pull this from your real review platform; faking it is flagged by validators and damages trust.
- Optionally include offers.priceSpecification with a UnitPriceSpecification declaring the billing interval (monthly, annual), screenshot URLs in screenshot, and softwareVersion.
- Validate the URL in Google's Rich Results Test under the Software App test type.
Quick facts
| Maturity | ESTABLISHED |
|---|---|
| Weight | medium |
| Category | Structured Data |
Primary sources
Related signals
Frequently asked questions
What if my software is free or has a free tier?
Set offers.price to 0 and offers.priceCurrency to your default currency (the currency is still required even when the price is zero). For freemium products, the structured data should reflect the entry price, which is usually zero. Mention paid tiers in the pricing page structured data, not in the main SoftwareApplication block.
Where do I get the aggregateRating from?
Use your real, honest customer review data, ideally from a verified review platform like G2, Capterra, or your own review system. Inventing ratings or showing only the highest-rated subset is a violation of Google's structured data policies and is detected by cross-checking with public review sites. Honest numbers always outperform inflated ones over time.
Should I use SoftwareApplication or Product for my SaaS?
SoftwareApplication. It is the specific subtype for software and includes fields Product does not (operatingSystem, applicationCategory, softwareVersion). AI tools handling software queries look for SoftwareApplication first; Product is the fallback for things that are not software, like physical goods or services.
Do I need this on every page or just the homepage?
Emit it on the primary landing page for each distinct product. Multi-product SaaS companies (Salesforce, Adobe) emit SoftwareApplication per product line, not site-wide. Single-product SaaS companies usually emit it on the homepage and possibly the pricing page, with consistent data across both.
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