Google Removes Some HowTo, QAPage & SpecialAnnouncement From Help Documents

Oct 29, 2021 - 7:21 am 0 by

Google Rich Results Schema

Google has removed the following structured data fields from its Google Search help documentation. Google said these were removed "since they are unused by Google Search and Rich Result Test doesn't flag warnings for them."

Here are the structured data fields that were removed:

  • Under HowTo: description.
  • Under QAPage: mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.author, mainEntity.dateCreated, mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.dateCreated, mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.author, mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.dateCreated, and mainEntity.author.
  • Under SpecialAnnouncement: provider, audience, serviceType, address, and category.

Keep this in mind if you are using any of these fields. You don't have to remove them, it is just that Google Search and Rich Result Test won't use them.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 25, 2026

Feb 25, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google Maps

Careful With Google Business Profile Verification Flow

Feb 25, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google

Google AI Mode See More Button

Feb 25, 2026 - 7:41 am
Other Search Engines

Anthropic Updates Crawler Docs: ClaudeBot, Claude-User & SearchBot

Feb 25, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google AI Shopping Pushing Show More Products

Feb 25, 2026 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Search Brief Serving Issue This Morning

Feb 25, 2026 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Survey Says: Links The Most Challenging Area Of SEO