Google’s John Mueller goes over what site owners need to know about using multiple types of schema structured data markup on the same page.
While this is an acceptable SEO practice, there are some do’s and don’ts for achieving the desired results.
This topic is discussed during the Google Search Central SEO hangout recorded on July 2.
A site owner asks what to do with a page that can be classified as an FAQ, a how-to, and an article. Should they add all three types of schema markup or just one?
Here’s what Mueller recommends.
Multiple Schema Properties: Do’s and Don’ts
There are two aspects to consider when it comes to using multiple types of structured data markup on one page.
The first is to follow Google’s guidelines by making sure the schema properties match the primary elements on a page.
If the primary content is a recipe, but there’s a small FAQ section at the bottom, then it wouldn’t be correct to include both recipe and FAQ markup.
“There are two aspects here. From our guidelines we want to make sure that the structured data you have on your page matches the primary element on your page.
So if you’re saying that you can add an FAQ to a random page on your website, sure you can do that. But is this FAQ the primary part of the page? Or relevant for the primary part of the page? That’s something that you kind of need to figure out. So that’s one aspect.”
The other aspect to consider is that Google’s rich results can combine certain types of structured data markup but not others.
A recipe rich result can also include a star rating, for example. But an FAQ rich result cannot be combined with a how-to.
“The other aspect is that, in the search results, some on the rich results types we can combine and some of them we can’t combine. So, for example, if you have a recipe and you have ratings then we can often combine that in the search results, in one rich results type.
However, if you have an FAQ and you have a how-to, then at least from what I recall what these look like, these are things that wouldn’t be combined in a single rich result type, which means our systems would have to pick one of them to show.
And maybe we’ll pick the type that you would have chosen or maybe you would have a different preference on your side.”
If there’s a specific type of rich result you want shown in search results, then Mueller recommends focusing on the markup that’s relevant for that result.
Leave out the how-to markup if your priority is to earn an FAQ rich result.
“And if you have a strong preference on your side I would just make that super clear to us by just providing that kind of structured data.
So if you’re saying: “oh the FAQ results, I really like those for these pages. They’re super relevant here, but it’s also kind of an article, and kind of a how-to.” Then I would just focus on your preferred one. Kind of the FAQ in that case.
Or if you’re saying the how-to is really the way that I want to have this page shown in search, then I would focus on that type.”
Hear Mueller’s full response in the video below: