Ecommerce Product Audience Schema: suggestedAudience & Audience JSON-LD for Targeted Products

Why Audience Schema Unlocks High-Intent Gift & Discovery Queries

Some of the most commercially valuable AI shopping queries are audience-targeted:

• "Best birthday gifts for a 5-year-old"
• "Outdoor toys for toddlers under $30"
• "Christmas gifts for teenage girls"
• "Baby shower gift ideas for new moms"
• "Professional kitchen tools for home chefs"

These queries have high purchase intent and clear audience filters. AI agents building recommendation lists for these queries need machine-readable audience signals on product pages. When you add suggestedAudience with age range and gender to your products, you become filterable by these criteria.

Without audience structured data, the agent must guess from product title ("Dinosaur Building Blocks Set") whether it's appropriate for a 3-year-old vs. a 10-year-old — and it will frequently guess wrong or skip your product entirely.

Audience Type Hierarchy

PeopleAudience Properties Reference

JSON-LD Examples

Children's Toy — Age Range

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Magnetic Dinosaur Building Blocks Set (60 Pieces)",
  "description": "STEM-focused magnetic tile set featuring 6 dinosaur figures. Builds fine motor skills and spatial reasoning. No small parts — safe for ages 3 and up.",
  "image": "https://your-store.myshopify.com/cdn/shop/products/dino-blocks.jpg",
  "brand": {"@type": "Brand", "name": "BrightMind Toys"},
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "34.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "url": "https://your-store.myshopify.com/products/magnetic-dino-blocks"
  },
  "suggestedAudience": {
    "@type": "PeopleAudience",
    "suggestedMinAge": 3,
    "suggestedMaxAge": 8,
    "suggestedGender": "Unisex",
    "audienceType": "Children"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.8",
    "reviewCount": "1203"
  }
}

Gender-Targeted Apparel

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Wildflower Linen Sundress — Women's",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "89.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  },
  "suggestedAudience": {
    "@type": "PeopleAudience",
    "suggestedMinAge": 18,
    "suggestedGender": "Female",
    "audienceType": "Adults"
  }
}

Life-Stage Targeting: New Parents

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Nesting Instinct Gift Set — New Mom Care Package",
  "description": "Thoughtfully curated self-care gift for new mothers: organic nipple balm, lavender bath salts, bamboo nursing pads, and a hand-written congratulations card.",
  "suggestedAudience": {
    "@type": "PeopleAudience",
    "suggestedMinAge": 20,
    "suggestedMaxAge": 45,
    "suggestedGender": "Female",
    "audienceType": "New Mothers"
  }
}

B2B Product — BusinessAudience

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Commercial Grade Sous Vide Circulator (40L Bath)",
  "description": "Professional immersion circulator designed for restaurant kitchens and catering operations. 2500W, ±0.1°C precision, 40-liter bath capacity.",
  "suggestedAudience": {
    "@type": "BusinessAudience",
    "audienceType": "Restaurant and Food Service Businesses",
    "numberOfEmployees": {
      "@type": "QuantitativeValue",
      "minValue": 5
    }
  }
}

Shopify Liquid Template: suggestedAudience Implementation

{% comment %} product.liquid — suggestedAudience for targeted products {% endcomment %}

{% assign audience_min_age = product.metafields.audience.min_age.value %}
{% assign audience_type = product.metafields.audience.type.value %}
{% if audience_min_age or audience_type %}

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": {{ product.title | json }},
  "description": {{ product.description | strip_html | truncate: 600 | json }},
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "{{ product.price | money_without_currency | remove: ',' }}",
    "priceCurrency": {{ shop.currency | json }},
    "availability": {% if product.available %}"https://schema.org/InStock"{% else %}"https://schema.org/OutOfStock"{% endif %},
    "url": "https://{{ shop.domain }}{{ product.url }}"
  },
  "suggestedAudience": {
    "@type": {{ product.metafields.audience.schema_type.value | default: "PeopleAudience" | json }}
    {% if audience_min_age %}
    ,"suggestedMinAge": {{ audience_min_age }}
    {% endif %}
    {% if product.metafields.audience.max_age.value %}
    ,"suggestedMaxAge": {{ product.metafields.audience.max_age.value }}
    {% endif %}
    {% if product.metafields.audience.required_min_age.value %}
    ,"requiredMinAge": {{ product.metafields.audience.required_min_age.value }}
    {% endif %}
    {% if product.metafields.audience.gender.value %}
    ,"suggestedGender": {{ product.metafields.audience.gender.value | json }}
    {% endif %}
    {% if audience_type %}
    ,"audienceType": {{ audience_type | json }}
    {% endif %}
  }
  {% if product.metafields.reviews.rating %}
  ,"aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "{{ product.metafields.reviews.rating.value }}",
    "reviewCount": "{{ product.metafields.reviews.rating_count.value }}"
  }
  {% endif %}
}
</script>

{% endif %}

Metafields for audience targeting

Age Range Reference for Common Product Categories

Common Audience Schema Mistakes

CatalogScan Audience Schema Checks

CatalogScan's AI Readiness scan detects Shopify stores in children's toys, baby products, apparel, gifts, and B2B categories and checks whether product pages include suggestedAudience structured data. Stores selling age-targeted or gender-targeted products without suggestedAudience receive an audience-signal gap warning. The scan validates: PeopleAudience vs. Audience base type selection, suggestedMinAge/suggestedMaxAge as numeric values (flags string values like "3 years"), and suggestedGender values against recognized enumerations.

Related guides: Clothing & apparel size schema · Age verification structured data · Ecommerce product schema overview · Shopify schema markup guide