JSON-LD example, tips for setting up your structured data
When working on your SEO and natural referencing, you have probably heard about structured data, rich results and the JSON-LD format. Google is working hard to better understand the content of web pages to be indexed and relies on structured data to correctly display your content in rich search results based on type.
What is the JSON-LD format?
The JSON-LD format, LD for Linked Data, is a so-called lightweight format for linked data. It allows, among other things, to define the information on your website in a homogeneous, standardised and machine-readable way.
This format is compatible with many development environments such as Javascript, Pyhton, C#, JAVA...
To find out more about this format, there is a website where you can find all the essential information on this format which is used for structured data: https://json-ld.org/
How to choose the type of structured data?
When you set up the JSON-LD format for your structured data, it is important to know what type of content you want to declare to search engines. The interest is above all to have your content referenced and for search engines to be able to display it in the same way as other content of the same type as yours.
For example, structured data of the type Recipe will be displayed in the manner below, and will allow Internet users to easily find the content of their search regardless of the website, before going there.
By examining the source code of the web page that is indexed with this data, we can access the JSON-LD object that has been defined. Here is the information that has been populated for this recipe. (You can test it yourself, whith the original link)
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@id": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/basic-shortcrust-pastry#Recipe",
"@type": "Recipe",
"description": "Learn how to make perfect shortcrust pastry every time with our easy recipe. For best results, make sure the butter is cold",
"image": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"height": 574,
"url": "https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/30/2020/08/recipe-image-legacy-id-559694_11-7a3f18f.jpg?resize=768,574",
"width": 768
},
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/basic-shortcrust-pastry"
},
"name": "Basic shortcrust pastry",
"url": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/basic-shortcrust-pastry",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Good Food team",
"url": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/author/goodfood"
},
"dateModified": "2022-05-24T15:15:01+00:00",
"datePublished": "2011-02-16T12:50:01+00:00",
"headline": "Basic shortcrust pastry",
"keywords": "Basic, Classic, Good Food, Make ahead, Pasty, Shortcrust",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "BBC Good Food",
"url": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com",
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"url": "https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/30/2019/07/GoodFood-dark-516d417.png?resize=221,58",
"width": 221,
"height": 58
}
},
"isAccessibleForFree": "False",
"hasPart": {
"@type": "WebPageElement",
"isAccessibleForFree": "False",
"cssSelector": ".js-piano-locked-content"
},
"nutrition": {
"@type": "NutritionInformation",
"calories": "262 calories",
"fatContent": "14 grams fat",
"saturatedFatContent": "9 grams saturated fat",
"carbohydrateContent": "29 grams carbohydrates",
"sugarContent": "0.3 grams sugar",
"fiberContent": "1 grams fiber",
"proteinContent": "4 grams protein",
"sodiumContent": "0.4 milligram of sodium"
},
"prepTime": "PT10M",
"recipeCategory": "Dessert, Main course, Side dish, Vegetable",
"recipeCuisine": "British",
"recipeIngredient": [
"225g plain flour",
"100g butter, diced",
"pinchsalt"
],
"recipeInstructions": [
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Sift 225g plain flour into a large bowl, add 100g diced butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Stir in a pinch of salt, then add 2-3 tbsp water and mix to a firm dough."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface."
},
{
"@type": "HowToStep",
"text": "Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling."
}
],
"recipeYield": "325g",
"suitableForDiet": "https://schema.org/VegetarianDiet",
"totalTime": "PT10M"
}
There are many data types, which you can find here https://schema.org/docs/full.html.
The most commonly used are often those related to blog posts (BlogPost), articles (Article), for e-commerce sites the product type (Product) or for the millions of recipes on the Internet, the recipe type (Recipe).
Whatever the case, you will inevitably find a JSON-LD type adapted to your content, which will ultimately make your work stand out in searches and improve your SEO.
How to test your structured data?
When you set up your structured data, it is important to test it. First of all, to check their integrity, that the associated type corresponds to the fields filled in, and that the preview generated is correct.
This is an essential step to validate that your JSON-LD will have an impact in search engine results. A web page containing complete structured data, or as complete as possible, will be more likely to be highlighted in comparison to other search results.
This data will be used by Google as rich results. It is possible to test whether your page contains the necessary elements to be compatible with rich results.
https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
It will take a few days or even weeks in some cases before the application of structured data as rich results is applied in search results. Be patient, monitor your changes and make sure you always have structured data that meets current standards, as they can change at any time.
Bonus
Now that you know what structured data is used for, how to test it and how to implement it, the SEO of your pages is at its best.
But it is still possible to go further with your structured data, by using it to generate content. I promise you will have (almost) nothing left to do.
This is the promise that Content-LD makes to you, to allow you to generate content with the structured data of your pages in JSON-LD format.
The principle is simple, insert one of the URLs of your platform, we take care of retrieving your structured data and welcome you in a No-code studio to format them.
Save the configuration of the formatting of your data and reuse it over and over again. Generate images easily in seconds now while improving your SEO in rich results.
