Product Rich Results Changes

Google recently improved its product rich enhancement report inside the Google Search console. Errors now have an unprecedented level of granularity within the service and allow you to address errors that are more actionable. It also provides you with notices on what to work on in order to improve on any errors by providing a product structured data set for you to browse. These changes to the Search Console began on September 29th.

A Bit of News

Google posted an update in the data anomalies help section, saying that on September 29th, 2021, the “Search Console now provides more granularity in error reporting for Product structured data items.” The notice went on to say that “as a result, many issues involving incorrect formatting that were formerly marked as invalid object are now marked more specifically with invalid type or format changes.” This means that vagueness regarding error reports is being corrected. In addition, Google categorizes the type of error, which cuts down on debugging time and allows you to fix the problem with less time tracking it down and investigating the issue.

The Product Rich Report

This report was first added to Google’s Search Console back in February of 2019. This Product Report feature has been expanded on and worked on as Google made improvements to it over the years. This update was an extension of this ongoing work. So what was Google’s Product Report update? As discussed early on in this article, the update added granularity and clarity to error reporting. The product report itself is a report that has various tools for tracking product structured data on yourself if you have a verified Search Console property for that website.

What is the Takeaway?

Google’s Search Console has a robust suite of tools, and the reports it generates are some of the most robust. However, it is also a work in progress. Therefore, if you notice a significant increase in errors around September 29th, 2021, it is likely due to the change that adjusted how Google shows more granularity in its reports. Check over the new errors, have your developers resolve them as usual, and see if the errors have gone within a week after the work is completed.

Ideally, you want your current error count to be 0. The Search Console’s report shows errors, warnings, and valid counts at the top of the chart on each page comprising the report.

Sharing the Report

When sending the report to your developers, you can share details in the coverage and enhancement reports by clicking the Share button on the page, which has an unlocked padlock symbol next to it. The link only provides access to the currently detailed page and any history pages associated with the issue. This is a security and usability feature to ensure that only the people who need to see the pages only see what they need to. These links can also be revoked and removed at any time by disabling sharing in the same way it was initially enabled.

You can also export raw data on many posts by pressing the export button to export all to a file. In addition, one can also export charts and tables, providing a convenient way to share the entire report.