Structured Data has no Impact on a Website's Search Ranking

Last week, Google‘s Search Liason, Danny Sullivan, clarifies that structured data is optional, meaning, it has no impact on the web search.

Sullivan’s statement was in response to a recent controversy on social media. It involved an argument on whether structured data is necessary to rank well on the search engine. Here’s how it started.

Earlier last week, a food blogger tweeted that Google sent her a notice requesting that she add structured data for calorie counts to recipes. At the time, the blogger was annoyed.

She assumed that her content would not appear in search results if it did not include the search engine company’s request. Meanwhile, Google’s notice stated that adding calorie count was a suggestion, not a requirement.

Her tweet reads:

As you can imagine, the blogger’s tweet quickly blew up beyond the social media pages, spreading misinformation. It led others to believe that structured data has a significant impact on search ranking.

The blogger’s tweet eventually caught Google’s attention.

Google Responds to the Structured Data Controversy

To address the misunderstanding, Danny Sullivan published a tweet thread using the official Google Search Liason account.

The statement reads:

“Yesterday, a concern was raised that calorie information was required for recipes to be included in or to rank well for Google Search. This is not the case. Moreover, structured data like this has no impact on ranking in web search.”

Although Google encourages content owners to provide structured data, it’s only an optional way to enhance their web page listing.

It helps pages that already rank well appear attractive to potential visitors. Besides, such information enhances search snippets and entices searchers to click on your page.

However, it’s not compulsory because it has no impact on ranking, says Google.

With that said, Sullivan admitted that the wordings in the notice that the blogger received could have been more explicit.

“Our goal with these types of messages is to help content producers understand if there are opportunities they’re missing,” He said. “We’ll be reviewing the wording of these messages to better achieve that goal and not inadvertently cause concerns.”

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