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Basics & formats

RDF (Resource Description Framework)

Also known as: Resource Description Framework

RDF (Resource Description Framework) is a W3C data model that describes information as statements made of a subject, a predicate, and an object, called triples. In SEO, RDF sits underneath JSON-LD and RDFa, two formats used to add schema.org structured data to web pages.

How does RDF work?

Each triple links two things through a named relationship. Resources and relationships are identified by IRIs, globally unique web identifiers. The object can be another IRI, a blank node, or a literal value such as a string, number, or date. A set of triples forms a directed, labeled graph, which makes it possible to merge data from different sources even when their schemas differ.

The current W3C Recommendation is RDF 1.1 from February 25, 2014. RDF 1.2 was a Candidate Recommendation as of April 2026 and adds triple terms, which let one triple appear as the object of another. Common text formats for RDF include Turtle, N-Triples, RDF/XML, and JSON-LD.

Entities and relationships in a knowledge graphFictional example with four entities: the organization Example Inc., the person Jane Doe, the place Sampletown and the product Example App. Edges connect them with schema.org properties: founder leads from the organization to the person, location to the place, manufacturer from the product to the organization. Through sameAs the organization points to its Wikidata entry and its Wikipedia article. On the right is a knowledge panel that Google generates automatically from data like this.foundermanufacturerlocationsameAsWikidata entryWikipedia articlePersonJane DoeProductExample AppOrganizationExample Inc.PlaceSampletowngenerated automaticallyKnowledge panelExample Inc.CompanyHeadquarters: SampletownFounder: Jane DoeProduct: Example AppEach edge is a statement of subject, predicate and object (an RDF triple),e.g. Example Inc. · location · Sampletown. All names are fictional.
A knowledge graph describes entities such as people, places, organizations and things and connects them through named relationships. sameAs points to pages that unambiguously identify an entity. Google generates knowledge panels automatically. Fictional example; how Google stores entities internally is not public. Sources: Google for Developers: Knowledge Graph Search API; schema.org: sameAs; Google Help: About knowledge panels; W3C: RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax (triples).

What does RDF have to do with SEO?

Google supports three structured data formats: JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa, and recommends JSON-LD. The JSON-LD 1.1 specification states that JSON-LD can be used like any other RDF syntax. Schema.org says its data model is derived from RDF Schema and that its canonical machine representation is RDF/Turtle.

Example

One statement in Turtle syntax:

TURTLE
<https://example.com/#org> <https://schema.org/name> "Example Inc." .

The subject is the organization, the predicate is the schema.org property name, and the object is the text “Example Inc.”

FAQ

What does RDF stand for? Resource Description Framework. In a web context, the acronym almost always refers to this W3C data model.

Sources

  1. RDF – Semantic Web Standards, W3Cw3.org
  2. RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax – W3C Recommendation, February 25, 2014w3.org
  3. RDF 1.2 Concepts and Abstract Data Model – W3C Candidate Recommendation Snapshot, April 7, 2026 (version retrieved)w3.org
  4. JSON-LD 1.1 – W3C Recommendation, July 16, 2020w3.org
  5. Data model – schema.orgschema.org
  6. Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com

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