Schema Troubleshooting Guide
Work through these steps when markup validates locally but behaves unexpectedly in production.
Rich results not showing
Structured data does not guarantee rich results. Check:
- Eligibility: Rich Results Test must show the feature as valid for that URL
- Content match: On-page text and images match JSON-LD
- Indexing: URL is indexed in Search Console
- Time: Google may take days or weeks to reflect changes
Schema is not a direct ranking factor. Missing snippets can still mean the implementation is correct.
Validation errors
| Error | Typical fix |
|---|---|
| Missing required property | Add the field; see schema.org for the type |
| Invalid JSON | Remove trailing commas; validate with json lint |
| Invalid URL | Use absolute https URLs |
| Wrong type | Change @type to match page content |
Markup not detected
- View page source (not DevTools Elements alone) and search for
application/ld+json - Confirm
wp_head()or your framework layout outputs the block - Disable conflicting SEO plugins that strip or duplicate JSON-LD
Search Console warnings
Open the Enhancements or structured data report. Click example URLs, fix the template, redeploy, and request validation.
Debugging workflow
- Copy JSON-LD from page source
- Paste into validator.schema.org
- Test live URL in Rich Results Test
- Compare JSON values to visible HTML
- Fix template; avoid one-off URL patches when the bug is global
Related guides: Testing & Validation, Common Mistakes.