Structured data checker

Why it matters

Google considers a page for indexing when it answers 2xx, though indexing is not certain even then. Google does not index an address that answers 4xx, and drops one that keeps answering 5xx.

How to check it

Run curl -IL with the address and read the status of the last answer. In Search Console, a live test of the final address in URL Inspection shows whether Google could fetch it.

Official documentation: How HTTP status codes affect Google’s crawlers

Why it matters

Google advises redirecting straight to the final address; failing that, ideally no more than 3 hops and fewer than 5. Its crawlers follow up to 10; Search Console reports a chain too long, or a loop, as a redirect error.

How to check it

Run curl -IL with the address: it prints each answer in turn, and only the last should be 200.

Official documentation: Redirects and Google Search

Why it matters

Google uses structured data to understand the content of a page and, for the features it supports, to show the page with a richer appearance in search results, called a rich result. This check reads the HTML the server sends, so structured data that a script adds later is not counted here.

How to check it

Test the page in Google’s Rich Results Test, which looks at the page after its scripts have run, and compare the items it finds with what is counted here.

Official documentation: Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search

Why it matters

A JSON-LD block must be valid JSON to be read at all. One missing comma, quote or bracket makes a JSON parser reject the whole block, with every item in it.

How to check it

Test the page again in Google’s Rich Results Test and check that it now finds the items of every block.

Official documentation: Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search

Why it matters

The @context says which vocabulary a block’s types and properties come from. Google’s features use the schema.org vocabulary, and markup in the old data-vocabulary.org vocabulary is no longer eligible for Google’s rich results. schema.org says that both https://schema.org and http://schema.org are fine.

How to check it

View the page source, find each JSON-LD script, and read its @context near the top.

Official documentation: Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search

Why it matters

The type, written as @type in JSON-LD or itemtype in microdata, says what an item describes, such as a Product, an Event or a LocalBusiness. Google defines its features by type, so an item without one cannot belong to any of them.

How to check it

Find each item at the line shown in the page source, and check that it has an @type or an itemtype.

Official documentation: Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search

Why it matters

Google’s features are defined in schema.org’s vocabulary, so a type that schema.org does not define belongs to none of them. schema.org writes each name with exact capital letters, such as LocalBusiness, and an unknown type may be a misspelling of the one you meant.

How to check it

Look each type up on schema.org: a defined type has its own page, such as https://schema.org/LocalBusiness.

Official documentation: Full schema hierarchy

Why it matters

Google’s features name their properties in schema.org’s vocabulary, so a property schema.org does not define is read by none of them. schema.org writes each name with exact capital letters, such as openingHoursSpecification, and an unknown property may be a misspelling of the one you meant.

How to check it

Open the schema.org page of the item’s type, such as https://schema.org/LocalBusiness, and find the property in its list.

Official documentation: Full schema hierarchy

Why it matters

schema.org lists, for each property, the types it may be used on. Its own data model calls these associations closer to guidelines than formal rules, so this is not an error. It can show that a property sits on the wrong item, such as a price written on a Product instead of on its Offer.

How to check it

Open the property’s page on schema.org: the types it is used on should include the item’s type or one of its parents.

Official documentation: Data model

Why it matters

Google supports structured data in three formats, JSON-LD, microdata and RDFa, and recommends JSON-LD where a site allows it. This check reads JSON-LD and microdata, and only counts RDFa.

How to check it

Test the page in Google’s Rich Results Test and read the items it finds.

Official documentation: Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search

Why it matters

Google does not crawl or index content that robots.txt blocks. The address itself can still appear in search results, without a description, when other pages link to it.

How to check it

In Search Console, URL Inspection reports whether crawling is allowed for this address, and the robots.txt report shows the file Google last fetched.

Official documentation: How Google interprets the robots.txt specification

Why it matters

When Googlebot crawls a page and finds noindex, Google drops the page from its search results, even when other sites link to it. The rule none means noindex, nofollow.

How to check it

View the page source and search for noindex. URL Inspection in Search Console shows whether indexing is allowed.

Official documentation: Block Search indexing with noindex

Why it matters

The X-Robots-Tag header has the same effect as a robots meta tag, and it also covers files such as PDFs. When Googlebot finds noindex or none in it, Google drops the address from its search results.

How to check it

Run curl -I with the address and read any X-Robots-Tag lines. URL Inspection in Search Console shows whether indexing is allowed.

Official documentation: Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag specifications

Why it matters

Google’s documentation lists, for each feature, the properties an item must have. Items that are missing required properties are not eligible for rich results. An item that has them all and follows Google’s guidelines is eligible, and Google still decides whether to show it.

How to check it

Test the page in Google’s Rich Results Test, which catches most technical errors, and read what it reports for the feature named.

Official documentation: Structured data markup that Google Search supports

Why it matters

Google’s documentation gives the form of many values: dates and durations in ISO 8601, prices as numbers with a dot for decimals, currencies as three-letter ISO 4217 codes, links as full addresses, and schema.org names for fixed lists such as availability; a value in another form may not be used. Where Google asks for a date and time, as for an article, give the time and its time zone: without them Google uses Googlebot’s own time zone, so the day it reads can differ from yours.

How to check it

Compare each value with the description of its property on the feature’s page in Google’s documentation.

Official documentation: Structured data markup that Google Search supports

Why it matters

Recommended properties are optional. Google says that adding more of them can make it more likely that the information appears with an enhanced display, and that fewer complete and accurate properties matter more than many incomplete ones. Properties Google recommends only in some cases, such as “if applicable”, are not asked for here.

How to check it

Compare the item with the list of recommended properties on the feature’s page in Google’s documentation.

Official documentation: Structured data markup that Google Search supports

Why it matters

Google retires search features, and limits some to certain sites. Google says that structured data it no longer uses does not cause problems in Search, has no visible effect there, and does not need to be removed.

How to check it

Google’s list of the structured data features it supports names the features it uses today. A retired feature is not on it.

Official documentation: Structured data markup that Google Search supports