Google Drops Support for 7 Schema Types: What Marketers Must Refocus on as Search Evolves

Google announced that it’s scaling back support for seven structured data types to “simplify the search results page.” This move reflects Google’s continuous effort to enhance its results pages for searchers.

For marketers, this change reminds us to keep our SEO strategies focused on what really matters: Clarity, expertise, and value to users. That’s not to say it’s time to bid goodbye to all schema markups.

Technical SEO best practices remain crucial today — most schema markups are still widely used and will continue to be relevant in the future. Google’s latest move simply means marketers must strategically use schema markups, especially if they want to earn citations in AI-powered searches.

“Structured data is like the nutrition label on your content,” Sarah B., Lead SEO Consultant at WebFX, explains. “It helps every platform — from Google to ChatGPT — to understand what you’re serving.”

By dropping support for certain schema types, Google is streamlining how it presents information and focusing support on structured data types that users find useful and relevant.

With these latest changes, marketers must evaluate and rethink their SEO strategies. Let us guide you through these topics:

• Which structured data types is Google retiring?
• From markup to meaning: Why this change affects your SEO strategy
• The 3 Rs framework: What marketers should do next

Which structured data types is Google retiring?

Over the past several months, Google has been gradually phasing out support for multiple structured data types and related search features as part of its effort to improve a user’s search experience.

In June, the company announced plans on the Google Search Central Blog to simplify search results by removing several rich result features and their associated structured data types, including:

• CourseInfo
• ClaimReview
• EstimatedSalary
• LearningVideo
• SpecialAnnouncement
• VehicleListing

By September, Google removed documentation for these schema types, noting that they are “no longer shown in Google Search results.” In November, Google confirmed that it would retire additional structured data types that are underused or add limited value, including PracticeProblem.

Search Engine Land also reported that Google will remove search features that relied on structured data, such as:

• Nutrition Information
• Nearby Offers and Events
• Local Bikeshare Station Status
• TV Season Selector

The core ranking systems remain the same. “It’s not changing how it crawls and interprets pages using these schemas,” Sarah explains. What’s changing is how Google supports and displays certain structured data types.

From markup to meaning: Why this change affects your SEO strategy

Google’s decision to retire certain structured data isn’t just a technical cleanup — it’s part of a larger shift in how search engines understand content.

It’s like a spring cleaning of the search results page to make it tidier. It eliminates outdated or redundant features, making the user experience feel simpler and more useful. Each of these updates signals a gradual but clear move away from over reliance on markup cues toward an emphasis on content clarity, context, and purpose.

For years, structured data gave marketers a way to “label” their content for Google, helping it define products, events, and reviews. Now, Google’s systems are increasingly capable of interpreting that information on their own.

The shift isn’t eliminating the need for schema markup. Instead, it’s recalibrating its role.

Rather than marking up everything, marketers must use structured data strategically. “There’s still value in using these schema types if they’re relevant to your page, because that’ll help all crawlers, whether it’s Google or ChatGPT, better understand and serve your content,” Sarah says.

Use it to highlight the most important information for your audience. By doing so, you’re helping users understand your page’s purpose, and enabling search and answer engines to show it in the right context.

Sarah shares a pro tip: “With AI tools like GPTs in ChatGPT, it’s easy to find and generate relevant schema for your pages, making it a quick win for SEO and generative engine optimization (GEO), so lean into it!”

In short, Google’s structured-data deprecations reflect a broader confidence in its ability to understand meaning rather than rely on technical signals alone. For marketers, this reinforces a familiar truth: Your SEO success depends less on how much code you add and more on how effectively your content communicates experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

The 3 Rs framework: How to adapt your structured data strategy

Marketers are no strangers to change. As Google simplifies search results pages and structured data, marketers know they should recalibrate their schema markup strategy.

That’s where the 3 Rs framework of Retire, Refocus, and Reinvent comes in. It’s a simple way to assess your structured data and SEO priorities.

Retire: Schema markup and tasks that are no longer worth maintaining

Start by retiring what no longer adds value. If your pages rely on structured data types or features Google has stopped supporting (like PracticeProblem, NearbyOffers, or other niche markup), remove or ignore them in your workflow. Keeping them won’t harm your site, but maintaining unnecessary code creates clutter.

To identify what to retire:

• Audit your site in Search Console for structured data that Google has removed from reporting or announced as unsupported.
• Use validation tools such as Schema.org Validator or Google’s Rich Results Test.
• Remove or deprioritize markup that no longer triggers rich results or affects visibility.

Streamline your process by removing obsolete schema so you can focus your time on activities that enhance user understanding and improve visibility, especially in AI-driven search.

Refocus: Core schema and SEO priorities that still drive visibility

Even as Google simplifies its use of structured data, the fundamentals of technical SEO and content quality remain essential. Refocusing doesn’t mean starting over — it means directing your attention toward the areas that continue to reinforce clarity, authority, and user trust.

Most schema types (such as FAQ, Product, Organization, and Breadcrumb) play a valuable role in SEO and GEO. These markups help search engines and users interpret relationships, hierarchy, and relevance within your site.

Beyond structured data, this is the time to focus on SEO practices that have always sustained visibility:

• Clear navigation and internal linking
• Clean content hierarchy
• E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
• Strong technical performance (fast loading, mobile friendliness, and crawlability)

Refocusing means channeling your energy into what consistently improves clarity, user trust, and long-term visibility. It’s not about chasing new, short-lived features. These SEO best practices also improve your chances of getting cited by AI answer engines.

Reinvent: Build for visibility, clarity, and context

Reinvention isn’t about abandoning what works — it’s about rethinking how your content and structured data work together to help both users and search systems understand meaning.

Google’s recent announcements reinforce its ongoing focus on understanding content quality and context, rather than relying solely on technical signals. Schema still plays an important supporting role by reinforcing context instead of defining every element.

Here’s how to reinvent your approach:

• Use schema to strengthen meaning, not mirror it: Mark up elements that clarify context — like authorship, product details, or review information — instead of tagging everything on a page.
• Design for AI readability: Create sections, summaries, and question-driven headers that make your content easy for both people and machine learning systems to understand and parse.
• Map intent pathways: Organize internal links and subtopics around how users seek answers, not just around keywords.
• Think “citable,” not just “rankable”: Write and structure content so it can be quoted or summarized accurately by AI-driven features in Search.

Note that reinvention isn’t about replacing SEO fundamentals — it’s about reframing them for an environment where search systems derive meaning more natively from your content.

Future-proof your SEO strategy

Google’s latest structured data changes remind us of an enduring truth: Keeping up with search updates matters, but reacting to every change isn’t a strategy.

After all, the best strategies aren’t built on quick fixes. Instead, a long-term strategy is building solid SEO foundations that endure change: clarity, expertise, and relevance.

Apply the 3 Rs framework of Retire, Refocus, and Reinvent to align your strategy with how search continues to evolve. You can also tap WebFX to help you with your SEO and other digital marketing strategies.

We’ve been in the business for over 29 years, working with clients through different algorithm changes and helping them grow their bottom line. Contact us online or call us at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist!