Google Begins Displaying JSON-LD Rich Snippets in Search Results

If you prefer JSON-LD for structured data, over the commonly used RDF or microdata, you are in luck. It appears that Google is now displaying rich snippets in JSON-LD in their search results.

On Aaron Bradley‘s SEO Skeptic, he details how Google has begun showing rich snippets in JSON-LD format, at least for recipe rich snippets, in their search results.

There is a long discussion about it on Google+, but Grace Massa Langlois details how she added JSON-LD markup to a couple of recipes and Google is now displaying it in their search results.

I thought the same +Aaron Bradley. I’ve held off marking up all recipe pages because my site is the process of a redesign. Using JSON-LD would make the task of marking up all the recipes so much easier but I wasn’t holding out hope.Not that this makes any difference to the results but my memory isn’t serving me well today, I added the JSON-LD markup before the examples were added. Regardless they weren’t displaying rich snippets before and they are now.Here are the recipe page URLs:

http://gracessweetlife.com/2013/08/mini-triple-chocolate-mousse-cakes-with-grand-marnier-cherry-sauce/ (query – mini triple chocolate mousse cakes)
http://gracessweetlife.com/2010/06/cannoli-siciliani-the-ultimate-italian-pastry/ (grace’s cannoli)

She later updated with the following current screenshots as well.

Mini Triple Chocolate Mousse Cakes – http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/430157/e5b1c0045e9df547669683e2943ae948
Cannoli – http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/430164/c0569d91f574f5b122a7d661fea72376

Here is how it currently appears in the search results, with JSON-LD markup:

You can view the page source for the full markup, but here is a portion of it.

Bradley also notes that the rich snippet documentation has now been updated to state “We are in the process of implementing JSON-LD support for this Rich Snippet type. At the current time, we recommend using microdata or RDFa.”

This is pretty exciting that JSON-LD markup is being supported on some level. It isn’t clear how long the implementation phase will be, so at this time it is best for webmasters to still use RDF or microdata if those rich snippets are important.

You can read Bradley’s more detailed analysis here.

Added:  It appears as though recipe rich snippets are the first to roll out, according to this post from Mariya Moeva from Google.

We now support JSON-LD also for recipe rich snippets!
https://developers.google.com/structured-data/rich-snippets/recipes

So you should be good to go for adding JSON-LD for recipe rich snippets, but you might want to hold off on switching other non-recipe markup for now.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post

Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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