E-commerce Schema (Product, Offer, Review)

Definition

E-commerce structured data comprises three primary schema.org types implemented on product pages to communicate product information to Google in a machine-readable format: (1) **Product** — the parent entity describing what is being sold. Required properties for rich results: `name` (product name), `image` (at least one absolute URL of the product image), `description`. Recommended: `brand` (Organization or Brand entity), `sku`, `gtin` (barcode identifiers — GTIN-8, GTIN-12/UPC, GTIN-13/EAN, GTIN-14, ISBN; providing GTINs significantly improves Google\'s ability to identify and match the product), `mpn` (manufacturer part number). (2) **Offer** — embedded within the Product, Offer communicates current pricing and availability. Required for shopping rich results: `price` (numeric value), `priceCurrency` (ISO 4217 code, e.g., "USD", "GBP", "EUR"), `availability` (schema.org availability value: `InStock`, `OutOfStock`, `PreOrder`, `Discontinued`, `LimitedAvailability`), `url` (canonical URL of the product page), `itemCondition` (New, Used, Refurbished). Critical: `priceValidUntil` (ISO date string — if the price has an expiration date, this prevents stale price display in rich results; if omitted, Google uses the price indefinitely or until recrawling). (3) **AggregateRating** — embedded within Product to display star ratings in rich results. Required: `ratingValue` (numeric), `reviewCount` (total number of ratings). Optional: `ratingCount` (distinct from reviewCount — number of rating-only submissions without written review text), `bestRating` (maximum scale value — defaults to 5 if omitted; must be specified if your scale isn\'t 1–5). **Review** — individual review entities embedded in Product or linked via `review` property: `reviewRating` (Rating with `ratingValue`), `author` (Person with `name`), `datePublished`, `reviewBody`. **Google Merchant Center and schema relationship**: Product schema on product pages is separate from Google Merchant Center feed data. Both are used by Google but in different pipelines: schema.org markup is crawled from the live page (for organic shopping rich results); Merchant Center feed data is submitted directly (for Google Shopping ad listings). Inconsistencies between schema markup and Merchant Center feed data can cause review violations. **Common Product schema errors**: price value formatted as string with currency symbol ($19.99 instead of 19.99 with priceCurrency: "USD"); missing or expired priceValidUntil causing stale price display; availability value using non-schema.org terms ("available" instead of "InStock"); gtin values with incorrect digit counts; rating values outside the 1–5 range without specifying bestRating.

Why it matters for SEO

Product rich results (displaying price, availability, star rating in the organic SERP) significantly increase click-through rates compared to standard blue links. Google Shopping rich results can appear in main organic results, in the dedicated shopping carousel, and in Google Images. E-commerce sites that correctly implement Product/Offer/AggregateRating schema earn richer SERP presence than competitors with unstructured product pages. The price and availability fields are time-sensitive — stale prices (out-of-date Offer data) can cause Google to issue Merchant Center warnings or remove rich results, so automation is essential: product schema should be generated dynamically from the inventory management system rather than manually, ensuring price and availability data is always current.

How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this

The audit validates Product schema against Google\'s Rich Results requirements: checks for required `name`, `image`, and `description` properties; validates `Offer` properties including `price` (numeric format), `priceCurrency` (ISO 4217), `availability` (schema.org enum value), and `priceValidUntil` (ISO date that hasn\'t expired); validates `AggregateRating` with `ratingValue` and `reviewCount` in range; flags GTIN values with incorrect formats; detects self-referential issues (markup claiming an AggregateRating from a single-page site with no visible reviews); and checks for consistency between the schema markup values and the visible page content (price in schema must match price visible to users).

Useful tools and resources

• Free Product schema validation