What is JSON-LD?
Definition
JSON-LD is a way of writing structured data as a small block of JSON in a page's code, separate from the visible content. It is the format Google recommends.
JSON-LD stands for JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data, a W3C standard. On a web page it sits in a script tag and describes the page's entities, such as the organization, the author, the article, and the service, and how they connect. Because it is separate from the HTML people see, it can be added or changed without touching the design.
Google supports three formats for structured data and marks JSON-LD as recommended, the easiest to implement and maintain. One practical tip: give recurring entities, like your business and its founder, a stable identifier (an @id) and reference it from every page. Then every article and service points to the same entity, instead of each page declaring a slightly different version of it.
Why does it matter to your business?
It is the least disruptive way to add structured data to any site and the easiest to keep consistent, which matters more than any single property.
Related terms
Sources, verified September 11, 2026
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