# RDF (Resource Description Framework)

Category: [Structured Data & SERP Features](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/structured-data-serp-features/) › [Basics & formats](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/structured-data-serp-features/basics-formats/) · 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.

## 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.

*Diagram: Entities and relationships.* 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.

## Related terms

- [RDFa](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rdfa/index.md)
- [JSON-LD](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/json-ld/index.md)
- [Schema.org](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/schema-org/index.md)
- [Structured data](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/structured-data/index.md)
- [Knowledge Graph](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/knowledge-graph/index.md)
- [Semantic Web](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/semantic-web/index.md)

## Sources

- [RDF – Semantic Web Standards, W3C](https://www.w3.org/RDF/)
- [RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax – W3C Recommendation, February 25, 2014](https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf11-concepts/)
- [RDF 1.2 Concepts and Abstract Data Model – W3C Candidate Recommendation Snapshot, April 7, 2026 (version retrieved)](https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf12-concepts/)
- [JSON-LD 1.1 – W3C Recommendation, July 16, 2020](https://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld11/)
- [Data model – schema.org](https://schema.org/docs/datamodel.html)
- [Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data)

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Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rdf/