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Keep Structured Data Accurate After a Site Redesign

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Keep Structured Data Accurate After a Site Redesign

This guide walks you through the process of keeping your structured data (like JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa) accurate and error-free during a site redesign. You’ll learn how to audit your existing markup, map it to the new design, validate the output, and monitor for issues after launch—so you don’t lose rich results or search visibility.

What You’ll Need

  • Access to your website’s codebase or content management system (CMS).
  • A list of the URLs that currently have structured data (use a crawler or your sitemap).
  • A copy of your old site’s HTML or rendered source for comparison.
  • Google Search Console (or Bing Webmaster Tools) access to monitor rich results.
  • A text editor or IDE for code changes.
  • Optional: a staging environment to test before going live.

Step-by-Step

  1. Inventory all existing structured data. Crawl your current site (using a tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb) and export a list of every URL that contains JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa. Note the schema types used (e.g., Product, Article, FAQPage) and the specific properties for each.
  2. Document the purpose of each data block. For each structured data instance, write down what it’s supposed to do—e.g., show star ratings in search, enable a recipe card, or mark up breadcrumbs. This helps you prioritize what must be preserved.
  3. Map old data to the new design. Review your new page templates and identify where each piece of data will come from. For example, if your old product page had a sku field, decide whether the new CMS still exposes that field. Create a mapping table: old field → new field or source.
  4. Update your templates or CMS fields. Modify your theme’s code or CMS schema to output the structured data in the new layout. Use the same JSON-LD structure as before where possible, but adjust selectors and variable names to match the new templates.
  5. Test on a staging server. Before deploying, copy a few representative pages (homepage, product, article, FAQ) to your staging environment. Use Google’s Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator to check each one. Fix any errors or warnings.
  6. Validate all affected pages after launch. Once live, re-crawl the site and run the Rich Results Test on a sample of pages from each template. Also check Google Search Console’s “Enhancements� section for any new issues.
  7. Monitor for drops in rich results. After a few days, compare your Search Console performance for rich results (e.g., impressions from product snippets) against the pre-redesign baseline. If you see a drop, investigate the affected pages and fix any missing or incorrect data.
  8. Update your sitemap and internal links. If URLs changed during the redesign, set up 301 redirects and update your sitemap. Ensure that any structured data on redirected pages is carried over to the new URLs.
  9. Document the changes. Keep a record of what was updated, when, and why. This helps with future redesigns and troubleshooting.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting to update selectors. If you copy-paste JSON-LD from the old site, but the new HTML has different class names or element IDs, the data may not be extracted correctly.
  • Leaving old data on deleted pages. If a page is removed, its structured data should also be removed. Redirecting a page without updating the markup can cause mixed signals.
  • Using outdated schema.org types. Schema.org evolves; if you were using a deprecated type or property, the redesign is a good time to update to the current vocabulary.
  • Ignoring validation warnings. Warnings like “missing fieldâ€� or “recommended fieldâ€� can later become errors if Google changes its guidelines. Fix them early.
  • Not testing on mobile. Structured data is parsed from the rendered HTML, which can differ between desktop and mobile if you have responsive or dynamic content. Test both.

Tips

  • Use a version control system. Commit your template changes so you can roll back if something goes wrong.
  • Automate validation. Integrate a schema validation step into your CI/CD pipeline using tools like schema-validator or a custom script that checks for required fields.
  • Keep a single source of truth. If possible, generate structured data from a central data layer (e.g., a CMS field) rather than hardcoding it in multiple templates.
  • Check for dynamic content. If your pages load content via JavaScript, ensure the structured data is present in the initial HTML or is injected reliably before Googlebot renders the page.
  • Use Google’s URL Inspection tool. After launch, submit a few key URLs for indexing to see exactly how Google renders and parses your structured data.

Troubleshooting

If, after the redesign, you notice that rich results are not showing or errors appear in Search Console, try the following:

  • Re-validate the page source. View the live page’s HTML and search for your structured data. If it’s missing, your template might not be outputting it correctly—check for conditional logic or caching issues.
  • Check for JavaScript errors. If you’re injecting JSON-LD via JavaScript, a script error can prevent it from appearing. Use the browser’s developer console to check for errors.
  • Verify that the data is on the final rendered page. Use Google’s Rich Results Test with “View Tested Pageâ€� to see what Google sees. If the data is absent, it may be loaded dynamically after the test’s render window.
  • Look for duplicate or conflicting data. If you have both old and new structured data on the same page (e.g., from a plugin and your theme), Google may get confused. Remove the old version.
  • Check your robots.txt and meta robots. If a page is blocked from crawling, Google can’t see the structured data. Ensure that important pages are not accidentally disallowed.
  • Wait a few days. Sometimes Google takes time to re-crawl and re-index pages after a redesign. If the data is correct, rich results may return after the next crawl.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to keep the same schema.org types after a redesign?

Not necessarily, but it’s safer to keep the same types unless you have a reason to change. If you do change, update your mapping and test thoroughly.

What if my new CMS doesn’t have fields for all the old data?

You can hardcode missing data in the template, or add custom fields to the CMS. For dynamic data like prices, ensure the CMS can output them.

How long after launch should I monitor?

At least two weeks, as Google’s re-crawling and re-indexing can take time. Check Search Console daily for the first week, then weekly.

Can I use the same structured data on multiple pages?

Yes, but each page should have unique data. Duplicate values across pages can cause Google to ignore them or pick one arbitrarily.

What if I have thousands of pages? Do I need to test each one?

No, test a representative sample from each template. If your templates are consistent, the same issues will appear across all pages of that type.

Should I use JSON-LD or Microdata?

Google recommends JSON-LD, and it’s easier to maintain. If you’re redesigning, consider migrating to JSON-LD if you haven’t already.

Related

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