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Introduction

About this guide​

This guide is a systematic reference for implementing structured data in JSON-LD format on a single page of a website. It uses the official specs of Google Search Central and schema.org as primary sources, and focuses on the decision process of "which type to use during implementation, and why."

Rather than the usual "collection of copy-paste JSON-LD samples," its goal is to leave you with a mental model you can apply to your own site.

Who this is for​

Who this is for
  • Web developers who have been tasked with implementing structured data on their company's site
  • People who handle SEO from the engineering side to improve rich results and search engine understanding
  • People who want to read the official specs and implement with a clear rationale

If instead you just want "something that works when you paste it," it is faster to go straight to the sample library in Google Search Central.

The implementation example used here​

This guide reconstructs the experience of implementing JSON-LD on a single page of a corporate site at work, turned into a generic, publishable example.

Subject: the service page of a fictional B2B SaaS, "Acme Workflow"

  • Root type: WebPage
  • Subject (mainEntity): Service
  • Provider (provider): Organization (the fictional Acme Inc.)
  • Target (audience): Audience / BusinessAudience family
  • Service area (areaServed): Country (Japan)
  • Parent site reference (isPartOf): WebSite

No industry context or real company names are used. The combination of Service / Audience / Country itself is a structure you can apply across consulting, SaaS, and many professional service businesses.

Learning order​

The guide has four chapters. Reading them in order is recommended, but it is built so you can move between chapters by use case.

ChapterContentMain audience
01. FundamentalsStructured data / JSON-LD / schema.org Data ModelFirst-time learners
02. Google guidelinesRecommended policies and prohibitions, the rationale for recommending JSON-LDBefore you implement
03. Type-selection processThe rationale for choosing WebPage / Service / Organization etc., plus a generalized decision treeThe core of this guide
04. Implementation + validation + operationsThe finished JSON-LD and the Rich Results Test, plus ongoing operationsAnyone starting implementation

The core is Chapter 03 (the type-selection process). It answers "what should I use on my own site," so if you are short on time, you can use it as a starting point and refer back and forth from there.

The official specs referenced​

This guide uses the following as primary sources, and links to the relevant section inline throughout the text.

Google Search Central (structured data guidelines)​

schema.org (type specs)​

This site has several systematic learning guides, but this one covers the independent area of SEO / structured data implementation. You can read it as a standalone series, parallel to "language and design references" like Introduction to Clean Code or the TypeScript Master Guide.

The conventions this guide follows​

To keep its long-term reference value, the following conventions are adopted at the time of writing.

Guarding against obsolescence
  • External links include "(checked: 2026-05)" so you have a basis for deciding when to update if a link breaks
  • Screenshots of web UIs are minimized, and the text is written to be UI-independent
  • For Google guidelines, the "spirit of the policy" is summarized rather than quoting specific URLs (so the text holds up as URL structures are reorganized)
  • @context uses https://schema.org (to avoid confusion with the http:// examples in older articles)

The next chapter begins here. First, let's cover the overall picture of structured data and the syntax of JSON-LD in 01. Fundamentals.