How to Showcase The Course Listing Using Structured Data

In its documentation on November 15, 2023, Google announced a significant update that provides course owners with a new way to showcase and promote their programs on the search engine.

Taking advantage of structured data, Google now allows course owners to display their course listings in a more engaging and informative manner. 

The increasing number of users searching for course information through search engines prompted Google to update this approach. With precise structured data, site owners can present relevant information to audiences actively seeking specific course programs.

How Structured Course Data Works

Structured data for course lists is a method that enables website owners, particularly owners of online courses, to provide structured information to search engines like Google. 

This helps search engines better understand and interpret content, allowing it to be displayed in rich snippets and more informatively in search results.

With rich snippets, course listings can be displayed in a new multimedia carousel in Google search results. This feature provides a better visual experience for users, allowing them to see images, videos, and other information about courses before deciding to click for more details.

Adding Structured Data for Course Information

Similar to adding other structured data, website owners need to embed a specific HTML tag called Schema.org into web pages containing course listings. This tag contains structured information about courses such as course title, instructor, duration, cost, and other essential information.

Here are the steps to add structured course data:

1. Add the required properties. Learn how to input structured data through the Google guidelines.
2. Follow Google's guidelines on each applied structured data, covering content, basic structured data, and search essentials. This ensures whether the course information is eligible for display.
3. Validate the code using the Rich Result Test and correct any errors.
4. Deploy the pages to the website that includes structured data. After these pages are deployed with structured data, the next step is to use Google's "URL Inspection tool" to check the URLs. This tool can be accessed through Google Search Console.

Google also recommends monitoring the performance of this structured data through Google Search Console (GSC). Course owners can track the performance of their structured course data via GSC, allowing them to monitor how often their course listings appear in search results, click-through rates, and other vital statistics.