One of the keys to online marketing is having accurate data about the company’s website. Data from programs like Google Search Console can be used to let marketers know if there are any issues with elements on the site. SEO marketers who use Google Search Console now have access to more data sources. Google is adding three more types of structured data that can be used in rich results report in Search Console.
The update to Google Search Console increases the number of data sources that can be used in rich result reports. The reports already used eight rich markups that could be used in the reports. Last week, Google announced that three more markups had been added.
According to media reports, the Search Console will structured data from product markups, sitelink searchbox markups, and unparsable types. With the product markup, Google can display detailed product information in the search results. This feature can help e-commerce retailers.
The sitelink searchbox markup lets Google display a search bar that lets users search a website’s content. And unparsable types refers to structured data that has been implemented incorrectly.
Including these markups in reports will help website owners and marketers get a better understanding of how their site is performing and make it easier to see any issues. For example, the product markup will make it evident if any product on the report has an incorrect product markup or if there is an error in the description.
Similarly, a category for unparsable types will identify errors and tell webmasters if there is an issue with the way structured data is set up. It should be noted that these new options can only be used on reports created from Aug. 13, 2019, onward. However, the reports may show errors in the markup that existed before Aug. 13th. In other words, if there is an issue, web developers may need to look at older content on the site.
In an answer on the Search Console Help page, Google wrote, “Some new issue types have been added to these rich result reports. The ability to report on these issues is new; the issues reported may or may not be new.”
Business owners should use these new Google Search Console structured data options to review their site for possible issues. An error with the markup can prevent customers from seeing the information that could move them to action. Issues with the markup are easy to make, and these report improvements make it simple to identify problems and correct them.
If it’s been a long time since you’ve run a report on your site, it’s a good idea to use these improvements and check for potential issues. The report will be more thorough, and these periodic checks are good for the health of a website.
For more recent news about additional updates to Google, read this article on an improvement to the Googlebot SEO tool.