Google Search Console Updated Structured Data Error Reporting

Google has recently announced that they have updated structured data error reporting. In their announcement, they said Google Search Console will be providing more contextual information to structured data error reporting, the rich results test, and its URL Inspection tool. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't expect additional errors. Instead, it is expected to see the same amount of errors. However, these errors are more specific and useful to identify problems in your structured data.

What has changed?

Google offered an example. The website may not provide the names of its author in the Review the snippet markup. In this case, Search Console currently reports an error titled – Missing Field "name." From today, the error will be referred to as Missing Field. The more precise context provided in the parenthesis could help you pinpoint the problem more quickly within the structured information. Here's a screenshot from before and after this:

What causes the issue?

This issue impacts some reports in Google Search Console. Google stated that it affected all Google Search Console Rich results status reports, including the Search Console URL inspection tool and the Rich Results Test. Google said that it is possible to use these tools even if you've not changed your markup for structured data:

• All open issues related to nested properties will be closed automatically (for instance, Missing Fields "name" issue in the above example).

• New open issues will be displayed with more information regarding what's missing. For instance, the issue will state the missing field "name" (in "author". We want to ensure that we don't overload Search Console users with emails. So, we won't send notifications on the creation of these new issues.

Google stated that updated structured data error reporting was planned and there is no reason to be concerned. Still, you should be aware of the change. Google declared that this is simply an alteration in the name of the issue, and it does not impact how Search Console detects errors. The new issue will replace all closed issues by adding the new details in the issue's title. However, at the same time, Google added, 

“Please keep in mind that if you wanted Search Console to validate a fix before the change, you’d have to revalidate the new issue.”