Definition
What this term means
Machine-readable code embedded in web pages that explicitly defines entities, attributes, and relationships using a standardised vocabulary. JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is the preferred format. It sits in a script tag on the page and tells AI systems exactly what the page is about: the organisation behind it, the author's credentials, the product details, the article's topic, and more.
Why it matters
The business impact
Structured data removes ambiguity. Instead of relying on AI to infer what your page is about from natural language, structured data tells it explicitly. This dramatically improves the accuracy of entity recognition, knowledge graph integration, and content retrieval. Pages with comprehensive structured data are more likely to appear in AI Overviews, rich results, and AI-generated recommendations.
Used in context
How you might use this term
“After implementing JSON-LD structured data for Organisation, Product, FAQ, and Author across their website, a B2B software company saw their content appear in Google's AI Overviews for the first time, with correct product descriptions and pricing, within two weeks.”
Related terms
Explore connected concepts
Schema Markup
A standardised vocabulary maintained by Schema.org, a collaboration between Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex, that provides a common language for structured data on the web. Schema markup defines hundreds of entity types (Organisation, Product, Article, Person, Event, etc.) and their properties, enabling web publishers to describe their content in a way that any search engine or AI system can understand.
Entity
A uniquely identifiable concept, such as a company, product, person, or location, that AI systems recognise as a distinct 'thing' in the world. Entities have attributes (like founding date, industry, or location) and relationships to other entities (like 'manufactures', 'competes with', or 'is headquartered in'). AI models use entity understanding to connect information across sources and form coherent knowledge.
Knowledge Graph
A structured database that maps entities and the relationships between them, creating a web of interconnected knowledge. Google's Knowledge Graph, Wikidata, and similar systems store billions of facts about people, places, organisations, and concepts, powering the knowledge panels, rich results, and AI-generated answers that appear across search and AI platforms.