owns

owns · Optional

Appears in

• Organization

What is it?

owns lists things that an organization possesses or holds ownership of. The scope is broad by design. A company might own products, intellectual property, physical assets, or other organizations. Schema.org defines the expected value as Thing, the root type in the schema.org hierarchy, which means any schema.org entity is valid.

In practice, implementations most commonly use owns to link an organization to products it manufactures, brands it controls, or significant assets it holds. The inverse property is ownerOf, though ownerOf is rarely implemented in practice.

Why this matters for AEO

AI answer engines answer ownership questions by resolving entity relationships from structured data. When a user asks "What products does Sony make?" or "Does Amazon own Audible?", AI systems look for ownership declarations in structured data.

The owns field gives organizations a mechanism to declare their owned entities in a machine-readable format, which AI systems can traverse when building answer responses. For holding companies or conglomerates, this is particularly useful when product or subsidiary pages do not explicitly reference the parent.

What the specs say

Schema.org:owns expects a Thing value (any schema.org entity). Things owned by the organization or person. [Source: https://schema.org/owns]

Google: Not mentioned in Google's structured data documentation for Organization. This field does not trigger specific rich results but contributes to entity graph construction. [Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization]

How to find your value

Identify the most significant things the organization owns that are also schema.org entities. Products owned via manufacture, brands, subsidiary organizations, and intellectual property (via CreativeWork) are all valid.

Avoid using owns as an exhaustive inventory. Focus on entities that benefit from machine-readable ownership declaration: brands with their own identity, key products, or significant subsidiaries not covered by subOrganization.

Format and code

Organization owning products

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Apple Inc.",
  "url": "https://www.apple.com",
  "owns": [
    {
      "@type": "Product",
      "name": "iPhone",
      "url": "https://www.apple.com/iphone/"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Product",
      "name": "MacBook Pro",
      "url": "https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/"
    }
  ]
}

Organization owning brands

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Volkswagen Group",
  "url": "https://www.volkswagenag.com",
  "owns": [
    {
      "@type": "Brand",
      "name": "Audi"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Brand",
      "name": "Porsche"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Brand",
      "name": "Lamborghini"
    }
  ]
}

Organization owning creative works

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Adobe Inc.",
  "url": "https://www.adobe.com",
  "owns": {
    "@type": "SoftwareApplication",
    "name": "Adobe Photoshop",
    "url": "https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html"
  }
}

Webflow implementation

Static pages

Add in Page Settings > Custom Code on the organization's main page:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Organization",
  "owns": [
    {
      "@type": "Product",
      "name": "Product Name",
      "url": "https://yoursite.com/product"
    }
  ]
}
</script>

CMS template pages

For product-heavy organizations, store owned items in a CMS collection and reference them dynamically in the organization's structured data using Webflow's CMS embed capabilities.

In Schema HQ

Inside Schema HQ's organization schema editor, the owns field is available. Add owned entities through the UI and Schema HQ serializes them as valid Thing objects in the output JSON-LD.

Real examples

Sony Group Corporation:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Sony Group Corporation",
  "url": "https://www.sony.com",
  "owns": [
    {
      "@type": "Brand",
      "name": "PlayStation"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "name": "Sony Music Entertainment",
      "url": "https://www.sonymusic.com"
    }
  ]
}

Related fields

• subOrganization
• brand
• parentOrganization
• ownerOf

FAQ

What is the difference between owns and subOrganization?

subOrganization is specifically for child organizations in a corporate hierarchy. owns covers any owned thing, including products, brands, and creative works. Use subOrganization for corporate structure and owns for assets and properties that are not themselves organizations.

Can owns reference another Organization?

Yes. Since Thing is the expected type and Organization is a subtype of Thing, an organization can declare ownership of another organization using owns. In practice, subOrganization is more semantically precise for that relationship.

Is there a limit to what can be listed in owns?

Schema.org imposes no quantity limit. Practically, list only the entities where machine-readable ownership adds value: brands, key products, and significant assets. Do not enumerate every asset a company possesses.