Google updates documentation on Profile Page and Discussion Forum Markup

Google last week announced updates to its Search Central documentation, clarifying how profile page and discussion forum markup is used in Google Search. This update comes as part of Google's ongoing efforts to improve search results and provide more accurate information to users.

According to the updated documentation, Google has renamed its "Perspectives" feature to "Forums" in Google Search. This change reflects a shift in how the search engine categorizes and presents user-generated content from online communities and discussion platforms.

The documentation update focuses on two key areas: ProfilePage and DiscussionForumPosting structured data. These markup types are designed to help Google better understand and present content from creators and online communities in search results.

ProfilePage markup is intended for sites where creators, either individuals or organizations, share first-hand perspectives. This structured data helps Google Search comprehend the creators who post in online communities and display improved content from these communities in search results. The markup can be applied to various types of pages, including user profiles on forums or social media sites, author pages on news sites, "About Me" pages on blogs, and employee pages on company websites.

DiscussionForumPosting markup, on the other hand, is designed for forum-style sites where people collectively share first-hand perspectives. This markup enables Google Search to better identify online discussions across the web and utilize this information in features such as Discussions and Forums.

The updated documentation provides detailed guidelines for implementing these markup types. For ProfilePage markup, Google requires the inclusion of a "mainEntity" property, which should be either a Person or Organization type. This property indicates that the primary focus of the page is information about this entity. Additional recommended properties include dateCreated, dateModified, and various attributes of the Person or Organization being profiled.

For DiscussionForumPosting markup, Google emphasizes the importance of including required properties such as author information, datePublished, and either text, image, or video content. The documentation also provides guidance on how to structure nested comments and handle multi-page forum threads.

Google's documentation update includes several technical recommendations:

1. For ProfilePage markup, if the profile page includes the creator's recent activity, developers can include markup using URLs on those objects to reference the page with the full content and markup.
2. For DiscussionForumPosting markup, Google recommends nesting comments under the post they relate to, using a tree structure to represent the forum's threading structure.
3. The documentation suggests using Microdata or RDFa for DiscussionForumPosting markup when possible, to prevent duplicating large text blocks inside the markup.
4. Both markup types support various interaction statistics, such as follow counts, likes, and post counts, which can be included using the InteractionCounter type.

The updated documentation also provides examples of how to implement these markup types using JSON-LD and Microdata formats. These examples demonstrate how to structure the data for different scenarios, such as non-threaded forum pages and profile pages with various attributes.

Google emphasizes the importance of following content and technical guidelines when implementing these markup types. The company warns that failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in the structured data being ignored or potentially leading to manual actions against the site.

To help webmasters and developers implement and monitor these markup types, Google recommends using tools such as the Rich Results Test for validation and Search Console for monitoring how pages perform in Google Search. The documentation provides step-by-step guidance on how to use these tools effectively.

Key facts from the documentation update

The update was announced on August 23, 2024

"Perspectives" feature in Google Search has been renamed to "Forums"

ProfilePage markup is designed for pages focusing on individual creators or organizations

DiscussionForumPosting markup is intended for forum-style sites with user-generated content

Both markup types require specific properties and follow strict guidelines

Google provides tools like Rich Results Test and Search Console for implementation and monitoring

The documentation includes detailed examples and troubleshooting advice