JSON-LD

JSON-LD (JSON for Linking Data) is a format for expressing structured data that uses JSON syntax to describe a page's content unambiguously for search engines. With it, crawlers don't have to guess that a snippet of text is a price, a product rating or an event date — the information is stated explicitly using the schema.org vocabulary. Google clearly recommends JSON-LD as the preferred way to supply this data.

How JSON-LD works

The markup sits inside a dedicated <script type="application/ld+json"> block in the document head or body. That block contains a JSON object describing an entity — its type (@type), context (@context pointing to schema.org) and properties:

• @context — declares the vocabulary the properties come from (usually https://schema.org);
• @type — names the kind of entity, e.g. Product, Article, FAQPage, LocalBusiness;
• properties — key–value pairs describing the entity: name, price, author, rating, opening hours.

The key advantage is separating this data from the visible HTML — the page markup stays clean, and JSON-LD blocks can be generated dynamically or injected through a tag manager without touching the template.

Practical application

JSON-LD is a cornerstone of modern technical SEO. Correctly described entities can unlock rich results: star ratings, prices and availability for products, expandable FAQ questions, breadcrumbs and recipe cards. An online store marks up its products this way, a news site its articles, and a local business its contact details and hours — boosting visibility and click-through in search.

To implement and verify it, teams use tools such as the Rich Results Test and the "Enhancements" report in Google Search Console. One iron rule applies: the data in JSON-LD must reflect the content actually visible on the page — discrepancies are treated as an attempt to manipulate results.