JSON-LD
A lightweight JSON format for marking up structured data on web pages. The format Google recommends and the one AI assistants parse most reliably.
Also known as: JSON for Linking Data
JSON-LD stands for JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. It is the recommended way to mark up structured data on a web page, embedded as a <script type="application/ld+json"> block in the page <head>.
Why it matters: AI engines have to decide, in real time, which businesses to cite by name when someone asks a category question. That decision runs on machine-readable signals. JSON-LD is the cleanest available. A page that declares @type: LocalBusiness with a name, address, phone, and service area is doing the AI engine's job for it. A page that buries the same information in marketing prose is asking the model to infer, and inference fails quietly.
For data on how often this gap shows up in the wild, see our analysis of 2,174 business pages (short version: 93.9% had no JSON-LD at all).
Related terms
structured data
Information on a web page marked up using a shared vocabulary, usually schema.org, so machines (search engines, AI assistants, social cards) can understand what the page is about.
schema.org
An open vocabulary for describing entities (businesses, products, events, people) on the web in a machine-readable way. Co-founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex in 2011.