Google removed 12 document structured data fields from its help document, citing the fact that they were removed because they were “not used by Google Search and the Rich Results Test doesn’t attach much. warning flags for them. ”
What was removed. Google has removed 12 different structured fields from HowTo, QApage, and SpecialAnnotify rich result types. These include:
- HowTo : description field.
- QAPage : mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.author, mainEntity.dateCreate, mainEntity Fields .suggestedAnswer.dateCreate, mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.author, mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.dateCreate and mainEntity.author.
- Special Announcement : provider, object, Service type, address and category.
Google has removed these 12 fields from the help documentation to more accurately describe what Google Search and Rich Results Test supports.
Remove code? Should you remove code and fields from structured data and code on your web pages? No you don’t have. Google simply won’t support them, but you shouldn’t have to keep the fields populated on your pages. Google simply won’t use them for Google Search.
Why do we care. If you’re using these fields, just be aware that these fields have been officially removed from the Google Search help documentation. They don’t work for rich results in Google Search, and the testing tool won’t notify you if there’s an error or warning with these field types.
Again, you don’t need to remove fields from your structured data, but Google will simply ignore them.
