Adding structured data is a beneficial practice, but incorrect implementation can lead to manual penalties. A drop in search rankings is a steep price to pay for overlooking details.
Structured Data Spam is a real issue. Google even provides a support page focused on this topic.
Structured data penalties often arise from misunderstandings or failure to read Google’s guidelines. Spam penalties, or manual actions, can occur even without the intention to spam since mistakes can still be perceived as such.
Understanding how things can go awry is crucial to avoid repeating past errors. A review of webmaster help forums reveals some common structural data mistakes that lead publishers to seek assistance.
Five Common Structured Data Mistakes:
- Using inappropriate structured data
- Structured data doesn’t match on-page content
- Violating Google’s guidelines for specific data types
- Violating Google’s general structured data guidelines
- Taking shortcuts and being manipulative
1. Using inappropriate structured data
Errors can arise when choosing the wrong structured data. For instance, using product structured data for a service can result in a manual penalty from Google.
2. Structured data must match on-page content
Information such as prices must be consistently reflected both in the structured data and on the webpage that users can see. For example, a job posting site’s structured data listed a different salary than what visitors saw on the page.
3. Failure to Read Developer Pages for Specific Data Types
Neglecting to read and follow guidelines for specific data types can lead to errors and potential penalties. It is essential to check Google’s developer pages for appropriate examples. Spending a few minutes reading these guidelines can save weeks of penalization.
Current Developer Pages are available for:
- Article
- Book
- Course
- Dataset
- Employer Aggregate
- Event
- Fact Check
- Job Posting
- Local Business
- Media (restricted)
- Occupation
- Paywalled content
- Podcast
- Product
- Recipe
- Review
- Software App (beta)
- Speakable (beta)
- Top Places List (beta)
- Video
4. Failure to Review Structured Data General Guidelines
Besides specific data types guidelines, Google has published general guidelines for structured data usage. Understanding these guidelines is crucial to avoid penalties.
Important Note: Validation in the Structured Data Testing Tool doesn’t guarantee accuracy against Google’s guidelines. Familiarize yourself with Google’s General Structured Data Guidelines.
5. Taking Shortcuts or Engaging in Manipulative Behavior
For instance, a website without an actual job offer might use the Job Posting structured data to unjustly attract users from Google’s search results to a page that doesn’t offer what’s claimed in the structured data.
Structured Data expert Casey Markee from MediaWyse highlighted that hiding schema off-page is a common mistake, especially hiding aggregate reviews or stars.
Markee also noted that quality impacts the retention of rich snippets, even if no manual notice is triggered. Popular pages with plenty of structured data can lose visible rich snippets if page speed declines due to accumulating comments.
Fixes like paginating or lazy loading comments can quickly restore rich snippets.
In Summary:
Do your research. Thoroughly read all the guidelines. Avoid relying solely on the Structured Data Testing Tool’s affirmation. By steering clear of these five mistakes, you can achieve success with Schema.org Structured Data.
More Resources
Images by Shutterstock, Modified by Author
Screenshots by Author
