How to Fix Structured Data Errors in Search Console

To fix structured data errors, open the rich result report in Search Console, find the affected property and URLs, test one page with the Rich Results Test, correct the markup at its source (usually a template or plugin), and then validate the fix. Errors usually mean a required property is missing or invalid.

The HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2024 reported JSON-LD on 41% of pages, up from 34% in 2022, the fastest growing of the structured data formats. As more markup is generated by plugins and themes, more of it breaks quietly after updates.

What structured data errors actually are

Structured data is code that describes a page in a standard vocabulary, so search engines can read the details: a product’s price, an article’s author, a business’s address. When the code is incomplete, malformed or does not meet the rules for a particular search feature, tools report an error.

It helps to be clear about what an error is not. It is not a ranking penalty, and it does not mean your page is broken for visitors. Google’s rule is simple: items that are missing required properties are not eligible for rich results. The error means that a page cannot show a feature such as review stars or a recipe card. That is the cost, and it is worth fixing when the feature is valuable to you. Nothing here guarantees a rich result either. Google says it does not guarantee that structured data will show up in search results, even if the page is marked up correctly.

If you want the background on what structured data is and how to plan markup for a site, start with my guide to schema markup. This post is only about reading and fixing the errors.

Errors, warnings and valid items

Search Console groups the pages it has found markup on into rich result reports, one per feature type that it detects. According to the rich result status documentation, a valid item has no critical issues and can appear as a rich result, while an invalid item has at least one critical issue that prevents it from appearing as a rich result.

In practice I read the statuses like this.

Status	What it means in practice	My priority
Error (invalid)	A critical problem, typically a missing required property or an invalid value, so the item cannot show as a rich result	Fix first
Warning	The item is usable, but a recommended property is missing or something is suboptimal	Fix when the effort is low
Valid	No critical issues, eligible for the feature	Monitor

The reason warnings exist is in Google’s guidelines: required properties decide eligibility, while recommended properties improve the quality of the result for users. A job posting with a stated salary is a good example of a recommended detail that users prefer. A warning is not an urgent fault. I always fix errors on pages that matter commercially before spending time on warnings.

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A step by step process to fix them

Open the right report. In Search Console, find the enhancement or rich result report that shows the issue. Each report lists issues by type, with the number of affected pages.
Click the issue, not just the report. The issue page shows the exact message and a list of example URLs. Pick two or three different URLs, since the same error on many pages usually has one shared cause.
Test a live example. Paste one of the URLs into the Rich Results Test. Compare what it reports with the live page, not with your memory of how the markup was set up.
Find where the markup comes from. View the page source and search for the structured data block. Decide whether it is written in a template, generated by a theme, added by an SEO plugin, injected by a tag manager, or entered by hand on one page.
Fix it at the source. Change the template, plugin setting or field that generates it. Fixing one URL by hand when a template produces the fault only treats the symptom.
Retest several URLs. Check one of each page type affected, as well as the page you edited.
Validate the fix in Search Console. Use the option to validate the fix on the issue, so Google rechecks the affected pages. The report tracks whether the fixes are working. The documentation is clear that the structured data lives on your website, so fixes must be made in your site’s source code to resolve issues for good.

Be patient after validating. Google must recrawl the affected pages, which can take days or weeks, and the validation result depends on that recrawl. I do not make promises on timing for that reason.

Common errors and how to read them

Exact property names differ by feature, so always check the documentation for the type in question. These are the patterns I meet most often. They describe the typical cause rather than any one message.

Message pattern	Typical cause	Fix
Missing field (required)	The template does not output a required property, or the editor left the field blank	Add the property, or make the field mandatory in the CMS
Invalid value type or format	A date, price or URL in the wrong format, or text where a number is expected	Correct the output format in the template
Invalid object type	A property expects one kind of object and receives another	Check the nesting against the type definition
Parsing error	Broken JSON, such as a trailing comma or unescaped quote	Validate the JSON and escape special characters in titles
Image problems	The image URL is blocked, returns an error or redirects	Use a crawlable, working image URL
Content not visible on the page	Markup describes things the page does not show	Match the markup to the visible content

The last row deserves a closer look. Google’s structured data policies say not to mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page, and not to mark up irrelevant, misleading or fake information. A violation can lead to a manual action that removes eligibility for rich results. It does not affect how the page ranks in web search. The policies also say not to block pages with structured data using robots.txt or noindex, which links to my guide on noindex vs canonical vs robots.txt. If a manual action ever appears, my guide to Google manual actions explains the process.

Rich Results Test or Schema Markup Validator?

These are two different tools, and the confusion causes wasted time. Google’s structured data documentation describes the Rich Results Test as the official Google tool for testing structured data to see which Google rich results can be generated. The Schema Markup Validator is the broader tool for checking all schema.org based markup without Google feature specific warnings.

Use the Rich Results Test when you care about Google features, such as product, review, event or recipe results. It tells you whether the page is eligible and what is missing.
Use the Schema Markup Validator for types that Google does not turn into rich results, or to check that the syntax is valid schema.org. It will not tell you about Google eligibility.

A page can pass the validator and still fail the Rich Results Test, because the vocabulary allows things that a Google feature does not accept. I run both when the markup is complex, and treat the Rich Results Test as the deciding one for Google visibility.

Plugin conflicts and duplicate markup

On WordPress and similar platforms, a lot of structured data errors come from two sources both writing markup. Imagine an illustrative case: a theme outputs Article markup, an SEO plugin outputs a second Article block, and a reviews plugin adds a Product block with its own ratings. The page now describes itself three times, sometimes with conflicting values.

These are the checks I use when I suspect conflicts.

Count the blocks. View source, search for the JSON-LD script tags and list the types in each. Two blocks of the same type usually mean duplication.
Look for mismatches. A price, title or author that differs between blocks is a sign two systems disagree.
Switch off one source. Disable the theme’s markup, or a plugin’s schema module, and retest. Keep the source that gives you the most control.
Check after updates. Plugin and theme updates change markup. Google’s documentation recommends using the rich result status reports after deployment to catch pages that may break because of templating or serving problems.
Stay in one place. Decide which tool owns structured data for the site, and turn the others off.

Breadcrumb markup is a common conflict point, because themes, SEO plugins and navigation plugins all want to write it. I cover that in breadcrumbs for SEO.

Preventing errors from coming back

Test templates before deployment. Run the Rich Results Test on a staging copy of each page type after any theme or plugin change.
Make required fields required. If a product schema needs a price, the product form should not save without one.
Keep markup aligned with the page. Whatever the markup claims must appear on the page.
Review Search Console monthly. New error types appear after changes, sometimes without anyone noticing.
Document who owns the markup. One owner, one place, one checklist.

The setup checks for this belong in the standard routine in my WordPress technical SEO checklist.

Questions about structured data errors

Do structured data errors affect my rankings?

Not directly. They affect whether a page is eligible for a rich result feature. Google states that a structured data manual action removes eligibility for rich results and does not affect how the page ranks in web search.

Why does the Rich Results Test pass but Search Console still shows errors?

Search Console reports what Google saw when it last crawled the page, which may be older than your fix. The test checks the live page. Validate the fix in Search Console and allow time for a recrawl.

Should I fix warnings as well as errors?

Fix errors first, since they block eligibility. Warnings usually point to recommended properties. They are worth adding when the data is available and accurate, but they are not urgent.

Can I fix errors without touching code?

Often yes, if the markup comes from a plugin or a CMS field. Complete the missing fields or change the plugin setting. If the markup is hard coded in a theme, a developer needs to change the template.

Structured data errors are easy to ignore until a feature you rely on disappears from search results. If you want someone to trace where yours come from and fix them at the source, my technical SEO services include a full markup review, and you can ask for a free audit to start.

More in this series (Technical SEO in depth): start with WordPress Technical SEO Checklist: What to Fix First, then explore: