Google Is Discontinuing 7 Structured Data Types: Discover What They Are!

According to a Google Search Central post, these are the seven structured data types that will be phased out in the coming months:

1. Book actions – Book publishers could display call to action buttons in search results, enabling users to make a purchase
2. Course information – Businesses with online courses could highlight course details, reviews, and pricing in search results
3. Claim reviews – Fact checking websites could show search users when they were processing a claim
4. Estimated salaries – Businesses could show job listings in search results alongside salary information
5. Learning videos – Educational videos would appear in search results that were relevant to specific user queries
6. Special announcements – Google could highlight important announcements on search results (like COVID-19 updates at the height of the pandemic)
7. Vehicle listings – Automotive businesses could display vehicle specification and pricing information to users in search results

If any of these structured data types are relevant to your business, I understand if you feel frustrated or worried by its removal – especially if you’re doing all that you can to get your business seen in the SERPs.

That said, I wouldn’t worry about this removal, since Google has retired other types of structured data in the past to make way for more effective search snippets. Also, your website’s information could still appear in search, it’ll just be presented in a simpler format.

During this phase-out, Google advises that no immediate action is required, so you don’t need to make any huge changes to your website either.

In the Google Search Central post, Google also explained why it was removing the seven structured data types:

“We’re phasing out these specific structured data types because our analysis shows that they’re not commonly used in Search, and we found that these specific displays are no longer providing significant additional value for users. Removing them will help streamline the results page and focus on other experiences that are more useful and widely used.”

By keeping the search experience streamlined, Google hopes that it’ll be easier for users to track down key information that’s most helpful for them, improving the search engine’s overall user-friendliness.

As mentioned earlier, you don’t need to take immediate action if you’re using one or more of the structured data types listed. Google will simply ignore the markup code on your webpages, while your page rankings won’t be penalized either.

It’s not uncommon for Google to add and remove similar search features, so I suggest keeping an eye on any future developments. After all, you could come across a new structured data type that’s ideal for your business and reflects what you’re offering your customers.