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What is JSON-LD and Structured Data?

JSON-LD is a way to describe your page content in a format search engines understand. Learn how structured data enables rich results and better snippets.

Structured data is markup that describes your page in a machine-readable way—for example, that a page is an article, a product, or a local business. JSON-LD is one of the formats Google supports: a script block in the page that carries this description without changing the visible HTML.

Why it matters

  • Rich results — Valid structured data can unlock rich snippets (e.g. stars, FAQs, how-to steps) in search results.
  • Understanding — Search engines use it to understand entities, dates, and relationships on the page.
  • Not a ranking factor by itself — It doesn’t directly boost rankings, but rich results can improve CTR and visibility.

Common types

  • Article — Headline, author, date for news and blog posts.
  • Product — Price, availability, reviews for product pages.
  • Organization — Company name, logo, contact.
  • BreadcrumbList — Navigation path for the page.
  • FAQPage — Questions and answers for FAQ rich results.

Common issues

  • Invalid or missing — Broken JSON, wrong schema, or required properties missing so Google ignores or errors the data.
  • Mismatch with content — Markup that doesn’t reflect what’s on the page can lead to manual actions.

How BearAudit checks it

BearAudit checks for the presence and validity of JSON-LD (and other structured data) on each crawled page. We flag errors and inconsistencies so you can fix markup and improve eligibility for rich results.

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