sameAs is a property in your Organization structured data that lists the other web pages that identify the same business, such as your Instagram account, your LinkedIn company page or your Wikidata entry. Schema.org defines it as the URL of a reference page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity, so a machine that reads it can treat your store and those profiles as one brand instead of several that happen to share a name.
Brands share names all the time. An assistant that finds a "Willow Ceramics" on Instagram and another one in a business directory has no way to know whether they are the same company unless your own site says so.
What does sameAs tell an AI assistant?
sameAs tells a machine that the business described on this page is the same business that appears at each listed address. It does not prove anything on its own. It points the machine at evidence, and the machine then compares the name, logo and description on each profile with the ones on your store.
sameAs is one of the clearest signals for entity recognition that a store controls itself. An assistant decides who you are by putting together what it reads across the web. A clean sameAs list hands it the pieces in one place instead of leaving it to guess.
How common is a weak entity layer?
In our June 2026 study of 216 Shopify storefronts, 72% failed Entity Integrity, the metric that reads the product and brand layer of structured data. The study lists empty sameAs among the patterns behind that result, next to missing offers and thin Organization blocks. The full figures are in The State of AI Visibility 2026.
Which links belong in sameAs?
List only pages you control and that clearly belong to the business. The table shows what each kind of link confirms, and the list after it shows what belongs in sameAs and what does not.
| sameAs target | What it confirms |
|---|---|
| Your LinkedIn / company page | The business behind the store is real |
| Your Instagram / social profiles | The brand’s public presence is yours |
| Your marketplace listings | The seller and the store are one entity |
| Your Wikidata / knowledge-graph entry | You are the recognized entity, not a lookalike |
- Your company social profiles belong in it, such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and your LinkedIn company page.
- A marketplace shop you run under the same name belongs in it, such as your Etsy or Amazon storefront.
- Your Wikidata item belongs in it if one exists, and our guide to Wikidata and the knowledge graph explains when a small brand qualifies.
- A personal profile of the founder does not belong in the Organization block, since it describes a person. It belongs in a Person block on your About or author page.
- A profile you abandoned does not belong in it. A sameAs link that points at a dead or empty account sends a machine to a dead end.
Keep the name, logo and short description the same on every profile you list. Matching names and logos are what make those links believable, and our guide to consistent business details covers the rest.
How do I check my sameAs on Shopify?
You can check it in about ten minutes without an app.
- Open your homepage in a browser, right click and choose View page source.
- Search the source for "sameAs". If nothing comes up, your theme prints no sameAs list at all.
- If it is there, read the addresses inside it and open each one. Every link should load a live profile with your current name.
- Search the same source for "Organization". If you find two Organization blocks, a theme and an app are both describing you, and our guide to duplicate Organization schema shows how to keep one.
- Paste your homepage address into the Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org and confirm that sameAs appears under the Organization type. Our step by step guide to validating structured data walks through the screens.
How do I add or fix sameAs on Shopify?
Many Shopify themes build the sameAs list from the social links you enter in the theme editor. Step 2 above shows whether yours does.
- Go to Online Store > Themes and click Customize on your live theme.
- Open Theme settings (the gear icon) and find the Social media section.
- Enter the full address of every profile you control, and clear any field for an account you no longer use.
- Click Save, then repeat the source check above to confirm the new links appear inside the Organization block.
If your theme prints no Organization block, or an app prints a second one, the fix belongs in the theme code, and a developer should make it in a duplicate theme first. Go to Online Store > Themes, click the three dots next to your live theme and choose Duplicate, then work in the copy.
How does a ceramics studio with an Etsy shop fill in its empty sameAs list?
Take a ceramics studio on Shopify that sells mugs and planters, posts on Instagram and Pinterest, and runs an Etsy shop under the same name. Its theme prints an Organization block with the studio's name and logo and an empty sameAs list, since nobody filled in the social fields.
The owner adds the Instagram, Pinterest and Etsy addresses under Theme settings > Social media and leaves out a Facebook page she stopped posting on in 2024. The homepage source now lists three profiles under sameAs, and each one shows the same name and logo as the store. An assistant that meets the studio on Etsy can now connect that shop to the website. The Facebook page will not miss the attention.
What else do owners ask about sameAs?
What are sameAs links?
sameAs is a property in Organization structured data that lists other URLs where the same business exists, such as social profiles, marketplace shops and a Wikidata entry. It tells a machine that all of those pages describe one business.
Do I need sameAs if my store already has schema?
Yes, if you want a machine to connect your store with the rest of the web. Your Organization block describes the business, and sameAs links it to the profiles that confirm it. Without the links, a machine has to infer the connection.
Which links should I leave out of sameAs?
Leave out profiles you do not control, accounts you abandoned, review sites you do not own and personal profiles of the founder. Each listed page should load, carry your current business name and clearly belong to the business.
Where does sameAs live on a Shopify store?
It lives inside the Organization block in your theme, usually printed on every page. Many themes fill it from Online Store > Themes > Customize > Theme settings > Social media, so check your page source after you save.
If you want the whole entity layer built from your real profiles, with one Organization block and no duplicates, Schema Mesh does that for Shopify and WordPress websites.
Sources
- sameAs, Schema.org, read November 9, 2026.
- The State of AI Visibility 2026, Visibility Mesh, 216 Shopify storefronts scored in June 2026.