TECHNICAL · SEO GLOSSARY
Linked Data
A method of structuring and publishing data on the web so that it is machine-readable and connected to other data across the web via unique identifiers (URIs). Schema.org structured data, JSON-LD, RDFa, and Microdata are implementations of linked data principles — expressing web content as typed entities with typed relationships that search engines and AI systems can parse and connect to external knowledge bases.
Definition
Linked data is a set of design principles (formulated by Tim Berners-Lee) for publishing data on the web in a structured, interconnected format that enables machines to discover, parse, and combine information across distributed sources. The four linked data principles: (1) Use URIs as names for things. (2) Use HTTP URIs so names can be looked up. (3) When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information using standards (RDF, SPARQL). (4) Include links to other URIs so machines can discover more things. In the SEO context, linked data practices are implemented through: **JSON-LD**: the primary schema.org implementation, where entities are described with typed properties and linked to other entities via URIs (e.g., `worksFor`, `sameAs`, `memberOf`). **Schema.org vocabulary**: a shared vocabulary for describing entities (Organization, Person, Product, Event) and their relationships, enabling consistent machine-readable entity descriptions across billions of web pages. **Wikidata and DBpedia**: public knowledge bases where entities have stable URI identifiers that web pages can reference via `sameAs` to establish entity identity. **Google\'s Knowledge Graph**: Google\'s proprietary linked data graph of entities and their properties, populated partly from public linked data sources and partly from web content that correctly implements linked data principles. The semantic web vision underlying linked data is that the web can function as a distributed database — where data from millions of sources can be combined and queried because they use shared identifiers and vocabularies. Practically, for SEO, linked data implementation via schema.org JSON-LD with `sameAs` entity links is the mechanism for ensuring search engines can confidently identify what a page is about and connect it to the broader entity graph.
Why it matters for SEO
Google\'s ranking and knowledge panel systems are built on linked data principles — the Knowledge Graph is a linked data graph. Pages that implement linked data correctly (using schema.org types, typed property relationships between entities, and `sameAs` links to authoritative entity identifiers) are more legible to Google\'s entity processing than pages with only text content. AI search systems (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews) increasingly use entity graphs and structured data as citation confidence signals — content with verifiable linked data entity connections is more likely to be cited as authoritative.
How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this
DeepSEOAnalysis validates JSON-LD as the primary linked data implementation: checking that entity types are correctly declared, property relationships between entities use schema.org types (not bare text strings), `sameAs` links are present for business and person entities, and `@id` is used consistently for cross-referencing entities within the schema document. Server-rendering is verified — linked data in JavaScript-injected schema may not be processed by all parsers.
Useful tools and resources
GLOSSARY
Related terms
structured data
Structured Data
Machine-readable annotations added to HTML — usually JSON-LD — that explicitly describe what a page is about to search engines and AI systems.
Read definition →technical
Entity Linking
The process of connecting mentions of named entities in web content to their canonical identifiers in public knowledge bases (Wikidata, DBpedia, Wikipedia) — making the entity association machine-readable for search engines and AI systems. Implemented in structured data via the sameAs property and in content via explicit links to Wikipedia or authoritative entity pages.
Read definition →technical
Semantic Entity
A distinct, identifiable real-world thing — person, place, organisation, concept, product — that search engines represent as a node in their knowledge graph and use as the basis for entity-based ranking signals, knowledge panel generation, and AI response synthesis. Google\'s Knowledge Graph contains hundreds of billions of entities with defined relationships between them.
Read definition →structured data
JSON-LD
JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data — Google\'s preferred format for adding structured data (Schema.org markup) to web pages via a `<script type="application/ld+json">` block in the HTML head or body, keeping machine-readable data separate from visible content and easier to maintain than Microdata or RDFa.
Read definition →knowledge graph & entities
Knowledge Graph SEO
Strategies for influencing what information Google\'s Knowledge Graph displays about a brand, person, or organisation — including Knowledge Panel content, entity association with topics, and AI system citations.
Read definition →See how your site scores on Linked Data.
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