"... only 75.9% of businesses were implementing JSON-LD"
More professionals and business owners are becoming aware of JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data). JSON-LD is a compact format for Linked Data (JSON for Linking Data, JSON-LD.org). Essentially, it is a human-derived syntax for organizing and serving data in a format well-suited for the web, machines, and programming environments (JSON for Linking Data, JSON-LD.org). JSON-LD is important for SEO because search engines and AI use the data for different and increasing purposes (Schema.org, About Schema.org). In Google’s official documentation, it is referred to as the recommended format, as there are a couple of other types (Google Search Central, Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search). Here, we discuss our findings after reviewing 112 dental offices in Salem, Eugene, and Portland to assess JSON-LD implementation.
Each Oregon dental office studied was publicly found through Google’s Places feature. All data was pulled in March of 2026 from the dental office’s publicly listed website on Google’s Places. Each address was checked to ensure it was in Salem, Portland, or Eugene. Additionally, each address was checked for a unique business address. If a business had the same address, it was checked for different URLs and business names. Only JSON-LD data from the homepage was checked, meaning subpages may or may not have JSON-LD. Of the 112 dental office websites reviewed, only 108 were either operational or publicly accessible at the time of data collection. In Salem, 40 businesses were reviewed. In Portland, 39 offices were reviewed. In Eugene, 29 offices were reviewed.
In Salem, 72.5% of businesses had some form of JSON-LD data.
In Portland, 74.4% of businesses had some form of JSON-LD data.
In Eugene, 82.8% of businesses had some form of JSON-LD data.
Of all the businesses reviewed, 75.9% of businesses were implementing JSON-LD. Other facts, in Salem, 17.2% of the businesses implementing JSON-LD were doing the bare minimum on their homepage. This, of course, does not mean that the other businesses have each page optimized. Two websites had JSON-LD data, but additionally contained significant syntax errors, which may cause unwanted behavior from search engines or generative AI.
A non-technical way to check whether your website has JSON-LD data is to go to https://search.google.com/test/rich-results (Rich Results Test, Google LLC) and search your website. Once the website is processed, click “VIEW TESTED PAGE” and hit control + F in the tested page, and type “application/ld+json”. If you can’t find any results, it would be advised to take a deeper look.
References
1. JSON-LD.org JSON for Linking Data.
https://json-ld.org/2. Schema.org. About Schema.org.
https://schema.org/docs/faq.html#9 3. Google for Developers. Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data 4. Google LLC. Rich Results Test.
https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
