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foundingDate

foundingDate · Recommended

Appears in

What is it?

foundingDate is the date when the organization was established. It accepts a date value in ISO 8601 format, typically a full date (YYYY-MM-DD), a year-month (YYYY-MM), or just a year (YYYY). For organizations with a well-known founding year but uncertain exact date, the year alone is acceptable.

Why this matters for AEO

AI answer engines frequently answer questions like "when was [company] founded?" or "how old is [company]?" The foundingDate field provides a precise, machine-readable answer that AI systems can surface directly without parsing unstructured page content.

Knowledge graph systems use foundingDate to calculate company age, position companies chronologically in industry timelines, and contextualize business maturity for queries about "established companies" versus "startups." Google's Knowledge Panel displays founding year prominently for organizations. Providing foundingDate in structured data gives you control over the value that appears rather than relying on Wikipedia or third-party databases.

What the specs say

Schema.org:foundingDate expects Date. "The date that this organization was founded." [Source: https://schema.org/foundingDate]

Google: Recommended for Organization. "The date your Organization was founded in ISO 8601 date format." [Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization]

How to find your value

Articles of incorporation — The date on your founding documents
Company registry record — Incorporation date in public registry
Wikipedia or Crunchbase — Often lists founding year for public companies
Internal records — Date of first operation or formal establishment

Use the date of legal formation, not the date of a product launch or public announcement, unless those are the same event.

Format and code

ISO 8601 date format is required:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Stripe",
  "foundingDate": "2010",
  "url": "https://stripe.com"
}

Full date (when known):

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Apple",
  "foundingDate": "1976-04-01"
}

Year-month format:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "foundingDate": "2015-03"
}

Invalid, non-ISO format:

{
  "@type": "Organization",
  "foundingDate": "March 2015"
}

Schema.org expects ISO 8601 date format. Natural language date strings are not valid.

Webflow implementation

Static pages

Add to the Organization JSON-LD block in Site Settings > Custom Code:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Company",
  "foundingDate": "2018",
  "url": "https://yoursite.com"
}
</script>

CMS template pages

For directories or multi-organization CMS collections, add a date or plain text field:

"foundingDate": "{{wf {"path":"founding-date"} }}"

Use a plain text field formatted as YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD rather than Webflow's date picker, which may output a different format.

In Schema HQ

The foundingDate field is set in the Organization schema configuration panel. Enter the year (or full date) in ISO 8601 format and it is included in all generated schema blocks.

Real examples

No live crawl examples were captured. Basecamp :

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Basecamp",
  "foundingDate": "1999",
  "url": "https://basecamp.com"
}

Notion :

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Notion",
  "foundingDate": "2016",
  "founder": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Ivan Zhao"
  }
}

Related fields

founder — the person or organization who founded this entity
foundingLocation — where the organization was founded
dissolutionDate — when the organization ceased operations
name — organization name
legalName — registered legal name

FAQ

Should I use the founding year or the full date?

Use the most specific date you can confirm. If the exact day and month are not certain, the year alone is acceptable and avoids displaying an incorrect date. Google displays the founding year in Knowledge Panels, so year precision is sufficient for most purposes.

What if my company went through a restructuring or reincorporation?

Use the date of the original founding unless the reorganization represents a fundamentally new legal entity. If you changed from an LLC to a C Corp or reincorporated in a different state, the original founding date typically still applies. Use the date on your current certificate of incorporation if a clean break was made.

Can `foundingDate` be in the future for pre-launch organizations?

Technically yes, but it is not useful for search or AI purposes. foundingDate is meaningful once the organization is officially established. Use the date of legal formation rather than a planned future date.