SEO for Rich Results: How to Find & Fix Structured Data Errors

To access this tool, simply log in to your Google Search Console, then click Web Tools > Testing Tools > Structured Data Testing Tool. From here ... Advertisement SEJ  »  SEO AlehBarysevich April5,2018 7minread VIPCONTRIBUTORAlehBarysevich FounderandChiefMarketingOfficeratLink-Assistant.Com Bio Follow  / April5,2018  /  7minread 1.2K SHARES 18K READS UsingstructureddataonyourwebsiteisanessentialpartofSEO. Atitsmostbasic,structureddatahelpsenginesunderstandyourcontentbetter(amustassemanticwebtechnologiescontinuetoevolve). StructureddataisalsoyourtickettoscoringrichresultsfeaturesinSERPs. StructureddatachecksshouldbearegularpartofyourSEOroutine.Thisarticlewillteachyouhow. 1.UseaStructuredDataTestingTooltoFindErrors Structureddatatoolshelpensurethatsearchenginesunderstandyourmarked-upcontent.They’realsoagreatwaytodoublecheckyourpagesforvalidmarkupandfinderrorsthatareeasytofix. StructuredDataTestingTool Thetoolyou’llwanttostartwithisGoogle’sStructuredDataTestingTool. Toaccessthistool,simplylogintoyourGoogleSearchConsole,thenclickWebTools>TestingTools>StructuredDataTestingTool. Fromhere,youcaneitherenteraURLintotheFETCHURLtaborcopyandpastesomestructureddatacodeintotheCODESNIPPETtab. Thistoolgivesyoualistdetailingalloftheerrors,alongwithdetailedinformationonthestructureddataGooglecurrentlydetectsonyourwebsite. Becausethistooliseasytouseandaccessiblebyeveryone,we’llbeusingtheStructuredDataTestingToolfortheremainderofthisarticle. RichResultsTestingTool Googlehasatooldesignedtohelpwebsiteownersdiagnosestructureddata:theRichResultsTestingTool. AllofGoogle’srichsnippets,richcards,andenrichedresultsareallknownbyoneumbrellaterm:“richresults.” Richresultscanincludeawidevarietyofitems,includingblogposts,videos,courses,localbusinesses,music,productinfo,jobpostings,andmore. Eventually,theRichResultsTestingToolwillbeaneasywayforyoutodeterminewhetheryourstructureddataiseligibletobedisplayedasarichresult. Asofthiswriting,theRichResultsTestingToolisstillfairlynew.Currently,thetoolonlysupportstestsforrecipes,jobs,movies,andcourses,butGoogleplanstoexpandtheseofferingsovertime. Third-PartyTools Formostpeople,theabovetoolswillbeallyouneedtofindandfixstructureddataerrors. However,ifyouwanttodiveintothenitty,grittydetailsofyourmarkuporifyouwantarobusttoolthatcandomorewithyourstructureddata(e.g.,convertbetweenformats,extractstructureddata,etc.)thencheckoutthisthoroughlistbySEOSkeptic. 2.PrioritizeItemswiththeMostErrors AfterenteringyourwebsiteintotheStructuredDataTestingTool,you’llseeatablethatincludesmultipledatatypes. Googlepre-sortsthesedatatypesaccordingtowhichitemshavethemosterrors. You’llwanttofixdatatypeswithmoreerrorsfirst. ClickingoneachdatatyperevealsamoredetailedbreakdownofitemswitherrorsforthatHTMLtag. YourSearchConsolecandisplayupto10,000URLsatatimeandwilltellyouexactlywhicherrorsitdetects. 3.FillinMissingFields Themostcommontypesoferrorsyou’relikelytoseeareeasilyfixed: Missingfield. Missingratings. Tosolvemissingfielderrors,suchas“missing:fn”(fullname),and“missing:datepublished,”clickDataHighlighterandfillintheschemaintheinformationtohighlightmenu. Theschemashouldcorrelatetothepage’ssubjectmatter,sochoose“Articles”forblogposts,“Products”fore-commerceproductpages,etc. IfyouhavemultiplepagesthatallfollowthesameformatclickTagthispageandotherslikeit,otherwiseclickTagjustthispage.ClickOK. Nowyou’llseealistofmissingfieldsontherightsideofthepage.Simplyhighlightandspecifykeyelementsonyourpage,suchasthetitle,author,anddatepublished. Onerecentchangetotakenoteof:Googlenowallowsorganizationstobedeclaredastheauthorofanarticle. 4.ClearlyMarkupReviews Googlehasspecificguidelineswhenitcomestousingstructureddataforreviews. Hereareafewkeyrequirementstobeawareof: YoumustmarkupbothbestRating andworstRating. Googleprefersthird-partyreviewsbeassignedtospecificproducts.Don’tincludereviewsforspecificproductsinitemlistsor“categorypages.” Reviewmarkupshouldberestrictedtoappropriatepages.Forexample,productreviewsshouldbelimitedtoproductpages,andbusinessreviewsshouldberestrictedto“AboutUs”or“Testimonial”pages.Googlenolongershowsreviewsonhomepages. Eachreviewshouldbeunique,andGooglewon’tdisplayreviewsuntilyouhaveatleastfivereviews. Reviewsshouldnotbepaidfor,norshouldtheybewrittenbythesiteorthepersonprovidingtheproduct.Thismayresultinamanualaction. Criticreviewsmustfollowstrictguidelinesthatprovideanhonest,unbiasedrepresentationofthecustomerexperience.SeeGoogle’sguidelinesformoreinfooncriticreviews. 5.FixPageswithManualActions Havingastructureddatamanualactionagainstyourpagedoesn’tnecessarilymeanyourpagewon’tappearinGooglesearchresults,butitisaseriousissuethatshouldbefixedimmediately. Someofthemostcommoncausesofstructureddatamanualactionsinclude: Incorrectpagemarkup(e.g.,apageusingrecipemarkupdoesn’tincludearecipeorapageusingeventmarkupdoesn’tincludevisibleeventcontent). Misleadingstructureddatamarkuporstructureddatathatisnotrepresentativeofapage’scontent. Marked-upcontentishiddenfromusers. Googleissuedawarning aboutsitesadvertisingcouponsandvouchersusingtheeventstructureddataareliabletoreceiveamanualaction. SeeGoogle’sguidetoBuilding,Testing,andReleasingStructuredDataformoreinformationoncommonmanualactionsandtheircauses. 6.OptimizeUsingStructuredDataMarkupHelper Ifyouwanttoinjectsomemuch-neededmarkupintootherpagesonyourwebsiteandyouaren’tsurewheretostart,looknofurtherthanGoogle’sStructuredDataMarkupHelper. Thisconvenienttoolwillguideyouthroughtheentireprocessofmarkingupstructureddataonyourwebsite. Togetstarted,choosetherelevantschema,enteraURL,andclickStartTagging. Next,highlightpageelementsandassignschematags.Youcanevenaddmissingtagsifyouneedto. Whenyou’redonemarkingupyourpage,clickCreateHTML. ChooseJSON-LDfromthedrop-downmenu(GoogleiscapableofparsingMicrodataandRDFa,buttheyrecommendencodingdatawithJSON-LD)andthencopyandpasteitintothe

ortagsofyourwebpage. 7.Test&VerifyYourUpdatedMarkup Finally,plugyourURLbackintotheStructuredDataTestingTooltoseeifyourupdatedmarkupchecksout. Ideally,you’llhaveeliminatedallerrorsfromyourpages. Ofcourse,there’snoguaranteethatstructureddatawillshowupinsearchresultsevenafteryou’vemarkedupyourpages,butyouwon’tknowforsureuntilGooglerecrawlsyourwebsite. Conclusion Evenifyouperformedastructureddatachecknottoolongago,it’sworthdouble-checkingnowthatGoogle’sswitchedtomobile-firstindexing. ManysitesthatpreviouslyoverlookedstructureddataontheirmobilepagesarenowatriskoflosingrichsnippetsandSERPvisibility. Thesolution? EnsurethatstructureddataexistsonbothmobileanddesktopversionsofyourwebsiteandthatmobilepagesincludeURLsupdatedtothemobileversion. Andwhileit’stechnicallyfinetousemarkuptocommunicatemoreinformationthanGoogleneeds,strippingirrelevantmarkupfromyourpageswillensurethatmobileloadtimesremainasfastandefficientaspossible. MoreStructuredDataResources: WhatisSchemaMarkup&WhyIt’sImportantforSEO DoesStructuredDataMarkupIndirectlyHelpRankings? GoogleClarifiesHowMuchStructuredDataisEnough ImageCredits FeaturedImage:antb/Shutterstock.comScreenshotstakenbyAlehBarysevich,March2018 Category SEO ADVERTISEMENT SubscribetoSEJ GetourdailynewsletterfromSEJ'sFounderLorenBakeraboutthelatestnewsintheindustry! FirstName* LastName* Email* JobTitle* --- AgencyManager/Director AnalyticsManager/Professional MarketingDirector/Manager MarketingProfessional SEODirector/Manager SEOProfessional SocialMediaProfessional SocialMediaDirector/Manager PaidSearchDirector/Manager PaidSearchProfessional Owner/Partner ITProfessional ITManager/Director Sales/BusinessDevelopment Other Topic(s)ofInterest* SEO PPC Content Social Byclickingthe"SUBSCRIBE"button,IagreeandacceptthecontentagreementandprivacypolicyofSearchEngineJournal. AlehBarysevich FounderandChiefMarketingOfficeratLink-Assistant.Com AlehBarysevichisFounderandChiefMarketingOfficeratcompaniesbehindSEOPowerSuite,professionalsoftwareforfull-cycleSEOcampaigns,and...[Readfullbio] ADVERTISEMENT SuggestedArticles AGuideTo‘Organization’StructuredDataForGoogleRichResults 7SEOCrawlingToolWarnings&ErrorsYouCanSafelyIgnore CrawlErrors&CrawlBudget:AreTheyGoogleRankingFactors? SubscribetoSEJ Subscribetoourdailynewslettertogetthelatestindustrynews. JobTitle*AgencyManager/DirectorAnalyticsManager/ProfessionalMarketingDirector/ManagerMarketingProfessionalSEODirector/ManagerSEOProfessionalSocialMediaProfessionalSocialMediaDirector/ManagerPaidSearchDirector/ManagerPaidSearchProfessionalOwner/PartnerITProfessionalITManager/DirectorSales/BusinessDevelopmentOther Topic(s)ofInterest*SEOPPCContentSocial Byclickingthe"Subscribe"button,IagreeandaccepttheprivacypolicyofSearchEngineJournal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 6NewMarketBrewSEOToolsThatPredictGoogleAlgorithmUpdateImpacts LocalSEO:Top6WaysToGetHigherQualityReviews Wednesday,June8at2pmET Advertisement ReadtheNextArticle Linkedin Facebok Twitter Email SMS ReadtheNext