The Problem

If you run a European business, you are legally required to maintain an Impressum page. It lists your company name, address, registration number, legal representative, and contact details. Most businesses treat this as a legal obligation — a page they create because they have to, tuck into the footer, and never think about again. They certainly do not think of it as a competitive advantage. But they should.

Meanwhile, businesses outside the EU struggle to prove their identity to AI systems. They create 'About Us' pages with vague descriptions and stock photos. They list contact forms instead of real addresses. They have no legal registration data on their website. In the context of AI source verification, these businesses are ghosts — entities that claim to exist but offer no independently verifiable proof.

Why It Matters

AI systems face a fundamental verification challenge: how do you confirm that a website represents a real, accountable business? This matters because AI assistants stake their credibility on every source they cite. Citing a fraudulent or nonexistent business erodes user trust in the AI itself. So AI systems invest heavily in entity resolution — the process of connecting a website to a verified real-world entity.

An Impressum page solves this problem directly. It provides a business registration number that can be cross-referenced with government databases. It names a legal representative who can be verified through public records. It lists a physical address that can be confirmed through mapping services. Every data point on an Impressum is independently verifiable, which is exactly what AI entity resolution systems need.

The Solution

Structure Your Impressum for Machine Readability

Most Impressum pages are formatted for human readers — a block of text with the required legal information. To unlock the GEO advantage, restructure this data for machine extraction. Use clear labels for each field: company name, legal form, registration court, registration number, VAT ID, managing director, street address, postal code, city, phone, email. Use a consistent layout with each data point on its own line or in a definition list format.

Add Organization Schema with Full Detail

Enhance your Impressum with JSON-LD Organization schema that mirrors the page content exactly. Include the legalName property for your official registered business name. Use the taxID property for your VAT identification number. Add the address as a structured PostalAddress object. Include a ContactPoint with telephone and email. Add the foundingDate if your company registration includes it. Use sameAs to link to your entry in the commercial register, your LinkedIn company page, and any other official profiles.

The key principle is redundancy between structured data and visible content. AI systems compare your schema against the page text. When both say the same thing, trust increases. When they conflict, trust collapses.

Cross-Reference Entity Data Across Your Site

Your Impressum data should be consistent with every other entity reference on your site. The Organization schema on your homepage should match the Impressum. Your contact page should list the same address and phone number. Your footer should display the same company name. AI systems check for consistency across pages — contradictions between your Impressum and other pages suggest either inaccuracy or deception.

Also ensure your external profiles match. Your Google Business Profile, industry directory listings, and social media accounts should all reflect the same entity data. This cross-platform consistency strengthens the entity resolution signal that starts with your Impressum.

Go Beyond Legal Minimums

The legal requirements for an Impressum set a minimum, but GEO rewards going further. Add your company founding year. Include a brief description of your business activity that matches your Organization schema's description property. List industry certifications and memberships. Add your DUNS number if you have one. Each additional verifiable data point strengthens the connection between your website and your real-world entity.

Link Your Impressum Prominently

Do not bury your Impressum behind multiple clicks. Link to it from your site footer on every page. Consider adding a secondary link from your contact page. AI crawlers weight pages based on their position in the site hierarchy — a page linked from every other page is treated as important. If your Impressum is only accessible through a footer link in small text, it is still findable but signals lower importance than it deserves.

What Success Looks Like

A well-optimized Impressum transforms a legal requirement into a trust engine. AI systems can verify your business identity through government databases, confirm your physical location, and connect your website to a known entity with a documented history. This verification cascade raises your entire site's trust score, making every page more likely to be cited. European businesses that recognize and optimize this advantage will find themselves consistently preferred by AI systems over competitors who cannot provide the same level of verifiable entity data. The Impressum is not a compliance burden — it is a GEO asset that most of your competitors either do not have or have not optimized.