HOW TO FIX STRUCTURED DATA ISSUES FOR RICH RESULTS

How to Fix Structured Data Issues for Rich Results

How to Fix Structured Data Issues for Rich Results

Blog Article

If Google Search Console (GSC) identifies issues with your structured data, such as missing fields or incorrect formats, you’ll need to fix these problems to ensure that your pages can appear as rich results in Google Search. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to fix structured data issues:



Step 1: Identify Structured Data Issues in GSC



  1. Log in to Google Search Console:


  2. Navigate to the URL Inspection Tool:

    • In the left sidebar, click on "URL Inspection".



  3. Enter the URL:

    • In the top search bar, enter the URL of the page you want to inspect and press Enter.



  4. Scroll to the Enhancements Section:

    • After inspecting the URL, scroll down to the "Enhancements" section to see if structured data is detected and whether any errors or warnings exist.



  5. Check Errors and Warnings:

    • If there are errors or warnings, they will appear under the specific rich result types (e.g., Product, Recipe, FAQ).

      • Errors are critical and prevent rich results from appearing.

      • Warnings are minor issues but should still be addressed to optimize rich result eligibility.









Step 2: Review and Understand the Error Messages



  • Click on the error to get more detailed information.

    • Missing Required Fields: The error message might indicate that certain properties (like price, rating, datePublished, etc.) are missing from the structured data.

    • Incorrect Format: Some fields may have incorrect formats, like dates in an invalid format (e.g., 2024-12-31 should be 2024-12-31T12:00:00 for certain types).

    • Invalid Property Types: Sometimes a field might have the wrong data type (e.g., a string when a number is required).

    • Duplicated Markup: Google may identify duplicate structured data or conflicting types (e.g., marking a page as both Article and Product).







Step 3: Edit the Structured Data Code


Once you've identified the issues, you’ll need to fix them in the page's structured data. Structured data is usually added to the page’s HTML as JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa. Here's how to fix common issues:

1. Missing Required Fields



  • For example, if a Product page is missing the price or availability, you’ll need to add these properties to the markup.


Example of fixing missing price for a Product (JSON-LD):

json






{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Product", "name": "Product Name", "price": "29.99", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock" }


2. Correcting Date Formats



  • For fields like datePublished or startDate (for events), ensure that the date is in the correct format (ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ).


Example of correct date format for Event schema:

json






{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Sample Event", "startDate": "2024-12-31T10:00:00Z" }


3. Fixing Property Data Types



  • Make sure the data type of each field matches what’s expected. For example, ratingValue should be a number and not a string.


Example of correct rating (JSON-LD):

json






{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Product", "name": "Product Name", "aggregateRating": { "@type": "AggregateRating", "ratingValue": 4.5, "reviewCount": 120 } }


4. Removing Duplicate Markup



  • Ensure there is no conflicting structured data. For instance, a page should not contain both Article and Product schema unless it specifically needs to. You may need to remove or consolidate conflicting types.


5. Fixing Structured Data for Different Formats



  • If you are using JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa, ensure that your structured data is correctly implemented according to Google’s guidelines.


Example of fixing Microdata for a Product:

html






<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Product"> <span itemprop="name">Product Name</span> <span itemprop="price">$29.99</span> <meta itemprop="priceCurrency" content="USD" /> <link itemprop="availability" href="https://schema.org/InStock" /> </div>





Step 4: Validate the Fix


After you’ve updated your structured data, it’s important to validate the changes:

  1. Test the Page:

    • Use Google’s Rich Results Test Tool to check whether your page is eligible for rich results. Enter the URL of the updated page to test the structured data.



  2. Validate in GSC:

    • Go back to Google Search Console.

    • In the Enhancements section of the URL Inspection Tool, click “Validate Fix” next to the error.

    • Google will then re-crawl the page and check if the fix is successful.







Step 5: Monitor the Results



  • After validation, Google will reprocess the page’s structured data, and you should see if the rich results are appearing properly in search.

  • Check back in Google Search Console to see if the error has been resolved and if there are any new issues.





Summary of Steps to Fix Structured Data Issues



  1. Identify errors/warnings in Google Search Console under the Enhancements section of the URL Inspection Tool.

  2. Edit the structured data markup to fix missing fields, incorrect formats, or invalid data types.

  3. Validate the fix using Google’s Rich Results Test Tool and GSC's Validate Fix button.

  4. Monitor the changes and check back in GSC to ensure the issue is resolved.


By following these steps, you can ensure that your structured data is error-free and optimized for rich results, which will improve visibility in Google search.

Report this page