Google updated the structured data documentation for their European Economic Area (EEA) carousels that are currently in beta. A notable change is that the shopping queries carousels beta testing has expanded beyond Germany, France, Czechia, and the UK, so that availability is now open to all EEA countries. A byproduct of the changes is that the documentation is more easily understood.
Example Of Tidying Up Content Structure
Apart from reflecting the changes to the carousels beta program and unmentioned part of the update was to make the information flow in a more orderly manner so that it’s more easily comprehensible.
This section was edited to remove the exception about flight queries and to remove the associated flight queries interest form:
“…you can start by filling out the applicable form (for flights queries, use the interest form for flights queries).”
That section now reads like this:
“you can start by filling out the applicable form:”
The reason they did that was to make it less confusing by decoupling the flight query information from the other unrelated parts and rearranging the different topics into their own mini-sections, adding the flight query parts into its own mini-section. It creates a more orderly procession of information that makes the entire page easily understandable.
Here are the brand new sections that Google added, with the aforementioned mini-sections:
“For queries related to ground transportation, hotels, vacation rentals, local business, and things to do (for example, events, tours, and activities), use this Google Search aggregator features interest form
For flights queries, use this flight queries interest form
For shopping queries, get started with the Comparison Shopping Services (CSS) program”
Feature Change
The following section was removed because the availability of the features changed:
“For shopping queries, it’s being tested first in Germany, France, Czechia, and the UK.”
That section was replaced with the following section which reflects the current expanded availability of the shopping carousel beta feature:
“This feature is currently only available in European Economic Area (EEA) countries, on both desktop and mobile devices. It’s available for travel, local, and shopping queries.”
Google’s changelog for the change explains it like this:
“Updating the interest forms for structured data carousels (beta)
What: Updated the structured data carousels (beta) documentation to include the current interest forms and supported query types.Why: To reflect the current state of the feature and process for expressing interest.”
Read Google’s feature availability documentation here:
Structured data carousels (beta)
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Hieronymus Ukkel