Schema is Dead and Google Posts Might be Going Away

Here are last week's content highlights

Author

Gabriela Aleksova
March 11, 2024

One thing about me is, I have thoughts on local SEO things

Here are some of them ⬇️ 

1. Schema is dead (for local SEO)

"Schema is only valuable for the SERP features that it triggers"
- Joel Headley

I no longer implement or recommend Schema for local business SEO. There used to be value in some schema markup for local SEO, but not anymore.

To be clear, I think there are some great uses for schema on e-commerce sites, news sites, recipe sites, and large websites.

But for a typical small business website, the classic schema we used to implement no longer has value:

  • Local business schema

    You don't need it unless your business info online is a mess and Google cannot associate your business entity with your website.

    99% of businesses don't have this problem, so there is no reason to use it. This schema has never had any SEO impact (see Joel's quote above).

  • Review schema

    It was amazing while it lasted, but Google doesn't show the stars in the results for smaller sites anymore, so the party's over. (but you might still see stars for some businesses that are breaking the guidelines by using Product schema)

  • FAQ schema

    It was amazing while it lasted, but Google doesn't show the FAQ snippet in the results for smaller sites anymore, so the party's over.

  • Sameas schema

    This used to be helpful to get social links on your GBP, but it's no longer needed since you can add social links as a setting in your Google Business Profile now.

☝️🤓 There is still one rare case where I think schema can be helpful, and that is when your GBP Event posts are appearing with incorrect info.

Other than that, I don't waste my time with schema these days. There are higher value SEO activities to do.

Did you know you could still get the stars in the search results? Check out this product schema hack in the Twitter comments! (Note that this is a violation of guidelines, so implement at your own discretion.)

2. Is Google killing Google Posts?

Last week, Stefan Somborac shared a screenshot from an updated Google support doc, stating:

“Some businesses may find their social media posts surfaced on their Business Profile automatically.”

Why would Google do this when they already have Google Posts?

In his new article on the topic, Mike Blumenthal shares some of my data on the declining use of Google Posts and notes that Google recently added the ability to edit social links on your Profile.

Also, last week, our SEO team at Whitespark noticed that the prominent Deals tag for Offer Posts no longer appears on mobile 😢 

To me, all of this hints at the potential discontinuation of Google Posts…

Read the rest on Twitter or LinkedIn.

3. You changed your business name, and now you can't be found on Google?

That's exactly what happened to our client, Easy Offer DFW.

Whenever the business owner asked customers to search his new name “Easy Offer DFW", the Google Business Profile would not show up. It would only appear if you searched their old business name, “Lotus Property Solutions.”

So, he hired us to fix it. And we did.

Here's how:

  • We started publishing frequent content updates (Photos, Posts, etc.)

  • We cleaned up his citations

  • We encouraged him to ask his customers for reviews

  • We waited for Google to catch up and recognize his new name

His Profile can now be found as ‘Easy Offer DFW,’ which he is super excited about (and so are we).

Our SEO team does wonders for our clients every day. Check them out 👇️ 

4. I audited Anne’s website

Now that Anne dominates the local pack, it’s time to focus on conversions.

Watch as we review her website and come up with a conversion optimization plan 👇️ 

5. It’s okay if you don’t rank in the 3-pack

Though showing up in the 3-pack is amazing for visibility, it’s not the end of the world if your business doesn’t make it there.

Swipe through to learn why 👇️ 

See the full carousel on Instagram.

These are just the highlights from last week. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram to catch everything I publish — I promise I post good stuff 😉

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🤑 Refer to Whitespark and earn big!