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Noah
Noah
Jan 19, 2025, 10:58 AM
Forwarded from another channel:
Forwarded thread from another channel:
Ashley Berman Hale
Ashley Berman Hale
Nov 7, 2024, 4:06 PM
Hello friends! For those folks working on ecommerce sites, what structured data are you using for PLP? (category pages with a list of products).
I I feel like Carousel is a bit of a cheat, tbh. Especially when products are listed in the body of the page and aren't designed as a carousel.
Are folks using CollectionPage? Then do you list products/offer or something like an Item List? I know that Google changed their recommendations on markup for PLP/category pages a few years back but my brain doth be meltin'.
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Nov 7, 2024, 7:03 PM
Google had a beta feature in Europe for marking up product lists, but I can't find the documentation now. I think it followed the same pattern as the Carousel. We implemented it as an option for our clients but felt, if anything, it had a negative effect.
CollectionPage can be combined with the Carousel idea as they are different concepts. What is the page about v what is on the page.
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Nov 7, 2024, 7:04 PM
Oh, hi Ashley. I'm currently at a PE summit in India :-)
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Nov 8, 2024, 9:20 AM
The Carousel markup is part of an early adopters program:
In general I write something like this:
ItemList > mainEntityOfPage > CollectionPage
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Nov 8, 2024, 9:27 AM
Though you should be aware Google doesn't do anything with the `CollectionPage` annotation itself.
I only do so because than (a) I can connect the `BreadcrumbList` (I prefer fully connected graphs), and (b) I can add some additional page info (like page title and description) so I can send that information through to analytics (as opposed to collecting a bunch of separate element values through JS).
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Nov 8, 2024, 10:13 AM
@Tony McCreath can you elaborate on the negative effect of the Carousel markup? I have not implemented it yet since it’s still in beta and don’t plan to until it’s more widely accepted, but I’m curious what you saw
Ashley Berman Hale
Ashley Berman Hale
Nov 8, 2024, 2:48 PM
Whoa thank you for the responses! @Tony McCreath I miss seeing you - I'm so glad you're at a PE Summit!
Ashley Berman Hale
Ashley Berman Hale
Nov 8, 2024, 2:49 PM
The sites I'm working on have used Carousel in the past but I try to be careful about following guidelines and it wasn't a true fit, ya know? I'm thinking that instead of focusing on an itemList maybe I'll stick to some simple markup and then have robust product/merchant listing on all of my PDPs.
Ashley Berman Hale
Ashley Berman Hale
Nov 8, 2024, 3:23 PM
fwiw I grabbed some data on other ecom sites' PLPs. There isn't a consensus because _free will_ and the chaos of the world ya know?
Ashley Berman Hale
Ashley Berman Hale
Nov 8, 2024, 3:23 PM
lol that Houzz is using localBusiness.
Ashley Berman Hale
Ashley Berman Hale
Nov 8, 2024, 3:25 PM
I think I'll stick with CollectionPage as the webpage type w/ search + breadcrumbs. The pages I'm on don't have FAQs and from what I am seeing and hearing putting markup around all the products on a category page isn't necessary or helpful or recommended.
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Nov 8, 2024, 3:32 PM
Yeah we add Org data to category pages but thats it.
I know some folks add the Carousel (in turn Product and Merchant Listings) and some do CollectionPage, but I’ve never seen any value out of it
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Nov 8, 2024, 5:20 PM
I'm about to fly home, will try and find our notes. I have a feeling it was a feeling plus it caused some misleading rich snippets.
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Nov 9, 2024, 4:06 AM
Here's an article about the topic at hand. According to the outcome of those tests they were able to find traffic improvements:
We added ItemList structured data to give search engines more context about the listings of an online marketplace site. Read more to find out why.
Semrush Blog: SEO Split Test Result: The Impact of ItemList Structured Data on Listing Pages
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Nov 11, 2024, 8:15 PM
Nothing solid in our notes. I recall a single product category page would confuse Google into thinking it was a product page. We were also concerned that we could not fully mark up the products on those pages, causing warnings/errors, and reviews were not marked up. In the end we disabled the feature by default but allow clients to enable it.
I'll try and find time to analyse some of our clients that use it.
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Nov 12, 2024, 3:31 PM
Thanks for the insight @Tony McCreath. Sounds like it caused more confusion on the user which then creates a ton of support for you, I’m sure. I’d appreciate whatever you can share if and when you find the time.
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Nov 12, 2024, 4:22 PM
> _"I recall a single product category page would confuse Google into thinking it was a product page"_
That's not something I've noticed being an issue for a very long time already. However, until not so long ago it did occur that no matter whether you marked up a single or all products on a listing, Google would generate a Rich Result (inc price, rating, etc) based on a single product.
This is an issue Ryan Levering is aware about and of which he is of the opinion that it should have never happened (call it a glitch in the matrix). I'm just not sure whether he has come around to fixing that bug yet.
Though whether he already did or not, the Rich Result based on a single product (out of many) doesn't imply Google only understands listing pages as being about a single product. It's nothing more than a 'rendering' glitch on the frontend.
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Dec 2, 2024, 4:41 PM
I just saw a PLP where only one product had reviews. The page got those review stars. So Google still gets confused.
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Dec 2, 2024, 4:43 PM
And it was normal reviews, not Seller Ratings or Store Ratings?
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Dec 2, 2024, 4:44 PM
Yes, a product specific review marked up in the structured data
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Dec 2, 2024, 4:51 PM
This search shows them for me: cuckooland Sofas, Settees & Couches
The first result is the PLP and the second is the actual product with the review.
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Dec 2, 2024, 5:00 PM
In this case it is just an array of products at the top level, no structure like using ItemList. Here's a link to the limited beta for PLP structured data:
This guide focuses on a new carousel rich result that's in beta, which is a list-like rich result that people can scroll horizontally to see more entities from a given site (also known as a host carousel).
Google for Developers: Carousels (Beta) Structured Data | Google Search Central  |  Documentation  |  Google for Developers
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Dec 2, 2024, 5:11 PM
I was having a similar discussion over at a Dutch community (), when @Jan-Willem Bobbink was the first to post a screenshot of a `ItemList` + `Product` carousel showing up in the the Dutch SERPs!!!
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Dec 2, 2024, 5:14 PM
Thanks for sharing @Jarno van Driel! I don’t get to see this in the US
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Dec 2, 2024, 5:14 PM
lol, like you need it. What's the current Shopping item count, 1.000 per page?
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Dec 2, 2024, 5:15 PM
I’m greedy, what can I say
Tony McCreath
Tony McCreath
Dec 2, 2024, 5:16 PM
It's EU only :pleading_face:
Ilana Davis
Ilana Davis
Dec 2, 2024, 5:17 PM
Yeah I’m looking forward to seeing if this get’s rolled out more widely
Jarno van Driel
Jarno van Driel
Dec 2, 2024, 5:17 PM
oh, and you lot all got AOIs - nowhere to be found in the EU.

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