# Semantic web: what it is and how it works · Zorraquino
> The semantic web is an extension of the web in which data is described with metadata so machines can interpret its meaning.
URL: https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/internet/semantic-web.html

# Semantic web

The semantic web is an extension of the web proposed by Tim Berners-Lee in which data is described with metadata and shared vocabularies so that machines can interpret its meaning and link it

What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.

[The whole glossary](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary)

## What it is and how it works

It relies on W3C standards such as RDF, OWL and SPARQL, which express entities and relationships in a structured way. The original vision, set out in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was a web of linked data in which software and search engines could reason about information.

That full vision has not become widespread, but many of its ideas are in everyday use: structured data using the schema.org vocabulary, linked open data and the knowledge graphs search engines use to connect entities and show rich results.

Also known as

Web of data

Topics

[Technology and data](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/category/tecnologia-y-datos)

## Related concepts

- [Structured data](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/internet/structured-data.html)
- [Metadata](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/technology/metadata.html)
- [Entity in SEO](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/seo-entity)