I am now using the AMP Native Standard mode for some time, and everything is okay,
So I thought to pen down a checklist for readers of my blog to avoid structured data errors highlighting some tips to prevent structured data Markup errors & warnings on the Google search console.
This Checklist is especially For AMP on WordPress. Still, it can be useful for any website if followed. I have spent hours to figure out the solutions for these errors, some I could fix and validate quickly, some I am still struggling with as an enhancement.
On the Google Search Console, Google sends an email with the notification of errors on your website to the website’s owner. It’s best not to ignore any error, work on the same and once corrected, submit it for validation.
You can see Structured data or Schema for your pages with valid markups in detail at schema.org’s official website, and These Validations are necessary for better indexing, ranking, and SEO of your site.
The result is Rich Snippets on the search index.
So here is my Checklist, A list of some tips you can consider to avoid these structured data errors if I have still left something you can please comment below for others too can benefit.
A fact its been years google is using the Structured Data this post way back from 2011, 9 years ago from google blog.
Structured data errors from Image file names
While not aware of this till I got one notification, then and I came across this StackOverflow question searching on google to solve the same,
So Never Use “-” or special characters in your image names. More details you can find here on this StackOverflow thread. As per the original post on the URL, this is not official but still could resolve the warning
Adding special characters on your image names is not a good practice; simple words with proper ALT text is a plus point for your SEO Strategy.
Structured Data Errors From Image Sizes
Never use images of size below 1200 pixels in width and below 800 pixels in height (1200×800 Easy to remember). To get 16:9 Ratio accordingly can be 1280 x 720 Pixels. Still, if you use 1000 pixels wide images, you probably will get an error on the Google Search Console.
I tried using simple 16:9, i.e., 1600 x 900 on my this blog, but gradually I am reducing this as the matter on the images is not visible correctly.
It looks a bit ugly, and also I can save more on the page size.
Structured Data Errors for Image Format Types
Using SVG or WEBP image to check and with a suggestion from my favourite page speed test tool from google, but I got an error at the search console.
So Shifted to the basic .png and jpeg formats, its something with the automated rich snippet validation that throws away the error.
Structured Data Errors by Mixed Content
Don’t use Mixed Content AMP Requires SSL on your pages to fix this, use Simple SSL Plugin or Strict SSL Site-Wide by only using Https on all links and images or files.
Mixed content can even come from a simple embed that is from a NON-SSL source. The amp CDN is using SSL, and as your pages are from a google cache, you could get a validation error from even an image embed that’s using a NON-SSL Source.
Structured Data Errors By Missing Fields
Plugins like Yoast and RankMath do not support rich fields like tools on “How To Article” this will give warnings from the search console; still, you can manually add these fields using ACF Pro Plugin.
It would be best if you have skills enough to do that with ACF Pro.
Or could get that skill by merely spending 1-2 days on youtube and learn how to use Advanced Custom Fields Pro.
Structured Data Errors for your AMP Site’s Logo
Use your logo as per the Google Amp’s Official guidelines of size 600 Pixels Wide x 60 Pixels Height. (600x60px) the logo should be visible on small and big screens both.
Avoid adding small text taglines to the logo. Also, the logo should be clear, crisp, and on a simple white or light background. Avoid black or dark backgrounds for the logo.
More information on this topic is at the developer’s guidelines on the official link from google here.
Structured Data Errors from Breadcrumbs
Use Breadcrumbs with proper settings on Yoast or any SEO plugin supported by AMP.
Breadcrumbs require “item” or “name”, it’s automatically done by the plugin with your post category or title.
Some plugins will ask you to add code snippets for breadcrumb errors as a temporary fix.
Check for AMP & Structured Data Validations before you publish your content
Always check your pages and posts before publishing new or updating old posts for AMP Errors.
By the default function of the original AMP Plugin, you will get an error notice in your admin area. For other plugins or other CMS using AMP, you can manually do that by the AMP Validator Tool.
For structured data, you can do this by many tools available on the web or preferably the rich results test from google.
Avoid Redirects on landing pages
Don’t use any unnecessary redirects on your pages or from your pages,
redirects will give a clear thumbs down on the user experience or visitor who comes directly from the search could throw an error at the search console.
Don’t use hidden elements
In your content with markups to trick Google or any Search engine with hidden elements in descriptions and codes or CSS and making it invisible with properties like “Display” is a bad practice and can give a structured data error.
Avoid multiple schemas or structured data settings
If you use the schema of an extra plugin with a special focus on structured data, turn off the schema of the Default SEO plugin to avoid duplicate markups.
Also, fill in the entire fields required by the Structured Data; otherwise, you can get missing structured data errors on the search console.
Errors for Structured Data by Spelling and Code Errors
Avoid Spelling errors if manually editing your structured data doing this could give an unparseable structured data error, and you can use validations tools before publishing the content.
Spelling errors are for only data elements in the code that search engines read.
If you use microdata or JSON markups, a simple dot or comma or any spelling mistake could throw this error.
So best is to use google’s markup tool to generate the JSON or microdata, don’t write it manually and publish the same.
Best will be using the official helper to generate structured data markup by google.
Prior knowledge on how to and where to use these codes is a must, and if you do not have the skills to change templates to add these markups,
I would suggest using the basic SEO Plugins schema snippets by default.
Errors on the Structured Data with most recent posts or blog page
Using the setting of Homepage as Most Recent posts gave an error initially, at that time I was using Rank Math.
To resolve this quickly, I could do that by creating a page manually and adding a widget to display my recent posts and then mapping that to the Home Page.
The reason was Recent Post’s were not in a structure; it is just a page that virtually displays all the recent posts, and ignores schema from SEO Plugin.
JSON-LD and Microdata Conflicts for Structured Data on the Same Page
While this is for quite a long time now, you can still avoid this with the proper implementation of your markups.
I recommend either using MicroData or JSON-LD one of them as both can give duplicate URL errors. JSON-LD markup format is a preference by Google also is good with AMP on WordPress.
Don’t test Structured Data Validations on Localhost
Google needs valid live domains to check structured data. So in case you are testing it by localhost on WordPress in a development environment, it would throw an error. I mean testing via a plugin on-page, best would be using the manual validation if on localhost.
Conclusion
Search engine should see what exactly they require from your content, you can understand thats all automated you can not just post anything on the web as a publisher and get validations without following the required schema, open graphs followed by the search engine community.
Its for sure that the Rich Snippets made by the structured data’s give you a better ranking, better traffic and definitely a best user experience.
