sameAs (schema.org property)
sameAs is a schema.org property defined as the "URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity," such as a Wikipedia page, a Wikidata entry, or an official website. It is available on any Thing, and its practical job is entity disambiguation: telling a machine that the organization or brand on your page is the same entity as the one described elsewhere.
What it does
Schema.org defines it as the URL of a reference web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity, giving Wikipedia, Wikidata and the official website as examples. It applies to Thing, so it is available on Organization, Brand, Person, Product and everything else.
The function is resolution, not endorsement. "Northmark Lighting" as a string could be many things. sameAs pointing at a Wikidata item and an official domain lets a consumer of your markup connect that string to one identified entity and to whatever else is known about it.
What it is not: a ranking mechanism. Linking to your social profiles does not confer authority. It makes authority you already have machine-resolvable.
Using it well
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Northmark Lighting",
"url": "https://northmark.example.com",
"sameAs": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q00000000",
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/northmark-lighting"
]
}
Rules of thumb. Point at authoritative references first — Wikidata, an official registry, the entity's own domain — before social profiles. Only link profiles the entity genuinely controls. And keep it stable, since the value of an identity assertion is that it does not keep changing.
The B2B application that gets missed
Most sameAs advice is about your own brand. The more useful application in distribution is the manufacturers you sell.
A catalog carrying 900 suppliers usually carries 900 loosely-typed brand strings: "Sq D," "Square D," "Schneider Electric (Square D)". Resolving each to a canonical entity with a sameAs reference does two things. Externally, it lets a machine connect your listing to the manufacturer's own identity, which supports product matching across feeds and marketplaces. Internally, it forces the controlled vocabulary work that stops your own faceted brand filter from listing the same manufacturer four times.
The internal benefit usually arrives first and is worth more than the markup.
Frequently asked questions
What is the sameAs property in schema.org?
A property whose value is the URL of a reference web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity, such as a Wikipedia page, a Wikidata entry, or the official website. It is defined on Thing, so it can be used on organizations, brands, people and products.
Does sameAs improve rankings?
Not directly. It is a disambiguation mechanism, not an authority signal. It helps machines connect your entity to known references, which supports entity resolution, but linking to social profiles does not create authority that does not already exist.
What should sameAs point to?
Authoritative references first: a Wikidata item, an official registry entry, or the entity's own domain. Verified social profiles the entity actually controls can follow. Keep the set stable, since the value of an identity assertion depends on it not changing.
Should distributors add sameAs for the manufacturers they carry?
It is a useful discipline. Resolving supplier names to canonical entities supports product matching across feeds and marketplaces, and the prerequisite work of building a controlled manufacturer vocabulary usually fixes duplicate brand facets on your own site first.