diff --git a/components/json.rst b/components/json.rst
index ee743bbf3a..06b14af2d7 100644
--- a/components/json.rst
+++ b/components/json.rst
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ Example 2: Simple JSON:
 
     {"key": 42.0, "greeting": "Hello World"}
 
+.. note::
+
+    To use the json component, you need to include it in your config. Be sure to put ``json:`` at the root level, along with other components like ``esphome:``.
 
 Parsing JSON:
 -------------
@@ -127,8 +130,8 @@ See Also
 --------
 
 - :doc:`index`
-- :apiref:`http_request/http_request.h`
-- :apiref:`json/json_util.h`
+- :apiref:`API Reference: http_request <http_request/http_request.h>`
+- :apiref:`API Reference: json_util <json/json_util.h>`
 - `ArduinoJson <https://arduinojson.org/>`__
 - :ghedit:`Edit`