Google Expands Structured Data Support for Product Variants

On February 20th, 2024, Google added structured information enactment for merchandise variants. This update comes arsenic a alleviation to galore eCommerce brands, arsenic it allows merchants to show a wider scope of merchandise variations straight successful their hunt results.

The caller structured information for merchandise variants uses the Schema.org ProductGroup benignant successful summation to Product structured data.

Benefits of Implementing Product Variant Structured Data

There are galore products successful the marketplace with variants. For example, apparel tin travel successful antithetic colours and sizes. Phones tin travel successful antithetic capacities, colours, and models. The implementation of this caller structured information for merchandise variants brings advantages to some eCommerce sites and their users by:

• More precisely showcasing merchandise offerings successful hunt results, highlighting divers variations specified arsenic size, color, and patterns.
• Better supporting the analyzable merchandise variant scenarios for eCommerce sites and perchance expanding visibility for the divers scope of products they connection straight successful the SERP.
• Improving idiosyncratic acquisition and click-through rates done offering much broad merchandise details.

Additionally, arsenic specific, long-tail keywords go much salient successful search, this markup tin assistance your merchandise variants basal out. For example, if idiosyncratic searches “navy bluish agelong sleeve garment size small,” a covering retail site’s merchandise variant that champion fits this query could amusement up arsenic a merchandise affluent result.

Prior to these changes, determination was nary casual mode to differentiate merchandise variants wrong merchandise markup. Historically, the Schema App team tackled this problem by:

• Identifying adaptable pricing connected a merchandise with AggregateOffer,
• Identifying each variant arsenic an idiosyncratic Offer, with a antithetic sku, or
• Listing each variant arsenic an idiosyncratic ProductModel to place antithetic colors, sizes, etc.

However, Google has expanded Product Variant Structured Data, which tin assistance america flooded the erstwhile situation of dealing with merchandise variants.

You tin work this GitHub issue for much accusation connected what sparked these changes.

In this article, we volition specifically absorption connected the changes introduced with Product Variant Structured Data and however you tin instrumentality these changes to your eCommerce site.

Product Variant Structured Data Overview

Product variants indispensable beryllium grouped nether a azygous identified “parent” product. To enactment this, Google introduced 3 caller properties wrong the Schema.org ProductGroup type:

1. hasVariant – to nest Product variants nether their genitor ProductGroup
2. variesBy – Indicates the spot by which the variants successful a ProductGroup vary, e.g. their size oregon color
3. productGroupID – the ID, aka “parent sku” of the ProductGroup

Google besides added a caller property, isVariantOf, to the Product structured data. The isVariantOf spot indicates the benignant of merchandise a variant is associated with, and Google has clarified that this spot supports merchandise variants with chiseled URLs.

Required and Recommended Properties for Product Variant Structured Data

To decently people up accusation astir your merchandise variant wrong your leafage content, usage the pursuing required properties wrong the ProductGroup type. Additionally, we urge including arsenic galore of the recommended properties arsenic applicable to your leafage content.

Required: name.

Recommended: aggregateRating, brand, description, hasVariant, productGroupID, review, url, variesBy.

Refer to Google’s Structured Data Documentation for a broad line for the required and recommended properties for Product Variant structured data.

Additional Eligibility Requirements

To beryllium eligible for this recently enhanced Product affluent result, you indispensable besides abide by the pursuing guidelines written and established by Google:

• Each variant indispensable person a unsocial ID successful its corresponding structured information markup (like a sku, for example).
• Each merchandise radical indispensable person a unsocial ID successful its corresponding structured information markup, specified with the inProductGroupWithID spot successful variant Product properties oregon the productGroupID spot successful the ProductGroup property.
• Be definite to adhd Product structured information successful summation to the merchandise variant properties, pursuing the database of required properties for merchant listings (or merchandise snippets).
• For single-page sites, determination indispensable beryllium lone 1 chiseled canonical URL for the wide ProductGroup that each variants beryllium to. Typically this is the basal URL that leads to a leafage without a variant pre-selected, for example: https://www.example.com/winter_coat. Note: This doesn’t use to multi-page sites arsenic determination is nary azygous canonical URL representing the ProductGroup spot (since the variants are distributed crossed arsenic important pages).
• For multi-page sites, each leafage indispensable person afloat and self-contained markup for the entities defined connected that leafage (meaning, off-page entities shouldn’t beryllium indispensable to afloat recognize the markup connected the leafage itself).
• The tract indispensable beryllium capable to preselect each variant straight with a chiseled URL (using URL query parameters), for example, https://www.example.com/winter_coat/size=small&color=green. This allows Google to crawl and place each variant. Preselecting each variant includes showing the close image, price, and availability, arsenic good arsenic allowing the idiosyncratic to adhd the variant to the cart.

Marking Up Single-Page vs. Multi-Page Product Variants

Most eCommerce sites person 2 plan types for their pages – Single-page and multi-page.

Single-page is erstwhile each variants are contiguous connected a azygous leafage without jumping to an alternate leafage for each variant (typically done query parameters).

Multi-page is erstwhile variants of the aforesaid merchandise are accessible connected abstracted pages.

Your variants tin be:

• nested nether ProductGroup markup, or
• be abstracted and unnested from the ProductGroup.

We typically urge nesting your markup due to the fact that it is simply a much close practice of the contented connected your leafage and its narration to different products connected your site. Nesting your markup tin besides assistance you make a much robust contented knowledge graph for your site.

The Product Variant affluent effect result uses properties similar sku, gtin, and productGroupID to differentiate betwixt idiosyncratic products and their genitor Product Group. At Schema App, our Editor and Highlighter volition automatically make identifiers successful the signifier of @id for each entity successful your markup, making it easier to query your Product information alongside different entities successful your cognition graph.

Depending connected however your circumstantial tract is acceptable up, however you people up your merchandise variants volition differ. See Google’s examples and documentation for circumstantial guidelines connected however to markup your merchandise variants.

Implement Product Variant Structured Data On Your Site

With changeless updates and additions to Google’s Structured Data Documentation, having an agile and dynamic Schema Markup strategy and solution is critical.

The Schema App Highlighter ensures the dynamic and continuous updating of your site’s Schema Markup, aligning it with interior contented changes and adjustments to Google’s structured information requirements and recommendations. This agility helps you enactment competitory successful search, arsenic outdated Schema Markup tin compromise your eligibility for targeted affluent results.

Want to larn much astir Schema App’s solution? Click present to get started.