Google Search Central's Recent Update on Structured Data: What You Need to Know

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On August 8, 2023, Google Search Central announced a major change to the way structured data is used in search results. Starting in October 2023, structured data will no longer provide any ranking advantage, except for government and healthcare websites. This means that website owners who have been using structured data to improve their search rankings will need to find other ways to optimize their content.



What is structured data?

Structured data is a way to organize and format information on a web page so that it can be easily understood by search engines. Structured data is typically encoded using JSON-LD, RDFa, or Microdata.

Why is Google making this change?

Google says that it is making this change to improve the overall quality of search results. The company believes that structured data is no longer necessary to rank websites accurately, and that it can actually be harmful in some cases. For example, some website owners have been using structured data to manipulate their search rankings.

What does this mean for website owners?

If you are a website owner, you need to be aware of this change and make the necessary adjustments to your SEO strategy. If you have been using structured data to improve your search rankings, you will need to find other ways to optimize your content.

Here are a few tips for optimizing your content without structured data:

  • Focus on creating high-quality, informative content that is relevant to your target audience.
  • Use relevant keywords throughout your content, including in the title, headings, and body text.
  • Make sure your website is well-structured and easy to navigate.
  • Build backlinks to your website from high-quality websites.

What about government and healthcare websites?

Government and healthcare websites are exempt from this change because Google believes that structured data is essential for providing accurate and informative search results for these types of websites.

If you own a government or healthcare website, you should continue to use structured data to organize and format your content.

Location: Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

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