Technical

JSON-LD

Also known as: JSON-LD, JSON for Linked Data

JSON-LD (JSON for Linked Data) is the recommended format for shipping schema.org structured data on a website. It uses standard JSON syntax to describe entities and their properties, embedded in a `<script type='application/ld+json'>` tag in the HTML. Google explicitly recommends JSON-LD over the older Microdata and RDFa formats for structured data implementation.

How JSON-LD looks in practice

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "@id": "https://resocial.us/#organization",
  "name": "Resocial",
  "url": "https://resocial.us/",
  "logo": "https://resocial.us/favicon.svg"
}
</script>

A <script> tag in <head> or <body> contains a JSON object describing one entity. Multiple scripts can ship multiple entities on the same page.

Why JSON-LD beats Microdata and RDFa

Three reasons:

Clean separation from markup — JSON-LD doesn’t pollute the visible HTML structure. Microdata sprinkles itemscope / itemtype / itemprop attributes throughout <div> and <span> tags
Easier to maintain — schema lives in one block per type; changes don’t require touching presentation HTML
Easier to validate — clean JSON syntax that can be checked against schemas

Google publicly recommends JSON-LD. Most modern sites use it exclusively.

Required JSON-LD structure

Every JSON-LD block needs at minimum:

"@context": "https://schema.org" — declares the vocabulary
"@type": "..." — specifies which schema.org type this entity represents

Optional but highly recommended:

"@id" — a stable URL identifier for cross-referencing this entity from other blocks
"sameAs" — links to authoritative external representations of the entity

Common JSON-LD types

Most modern B2B sites ship at least these:

Organization (or LocalBusiness)
WebSite
BreadcrumbList
Article / BlogPosting
FAQPage
Service (or Product)
Person (for author/team)

Our Schema Markup Complete Guide covers 12 types every site needs.

Validation

Tools to validate JSON-LD:

Google Rich Results Test — searches for rich result eligibility
Schema.org Validator — broader spec compliance check
Search Console Enhancement reports — surfaces errors at sitewide scale

A common mistake: JSON-LD that’s syntactically valid JSON but semantically wrong schema (deprecated properties, wrong types, mismatched data). Validation tools catch these.

SSR vs CSR concern

JSON-LD must be present in the server-rendered HTML for crawlers to read it reliably. JavaScript-injected JSON-LD that fires after page load is sometimes missed by crawlers — especially AI search crawlers that render less JS than Googlebot.

Resocial perspective

Every Resocial-built site ships JSON-LD exclusively (no Microdata, no RDFa). Our schema work is server-rendered, validated in CI, and refreshed quarterly. See the Schema Markup Complete Guide for the full implementation playbook.

Related terms

Apply in practice

Resocial service → /services/seo/technical-seo/
Read on the blog → /blog/schema-markup-complete-guide/