Google’s recipe structured data requirements have changed. The old way of structured data is no longer valid and Google requires updating the recipe structured data to the latest requirements.
Recipe Structured Data
Recipe structured data is information that publishers communicate to search engines like Google in order to help them better understand the content. Structured data also allows Google to display the content in engaging ways that call attention to the recipes called Recipe Enhancements.
Typical Recipe Enhancements are:
- Guided Recipes
- Recipe host carousel
Using valid structured data is important. Failure to use correct structured data could cause a site to lose eligibility for being shown in Recipe Enhancements and the subsequent loss of search engine traffic to other sites that do use the correct structured data.
Three Recipe Structured Data Properties Changed
Google’s documentation states that they removed their guidance for specifying a time range for the cookTime and prepTime properties.
The following wording is removed from the cookTime property recommendation:
“You can use min and max as child elements to specify a range of time.”
The following wording was removed from the prepTime property:
“You can use min and max as child elements to specify a range of time.”
Google now only supports exact time for both the cookTime and prepTime properties and one more that Google did not document.
The range of time is no longer supported.
The changelog for the update states:
“Currently, the only supported method is an exact time; time ranges aren’t supported. If you’re currently specifying a time range and you’d like Google to better understand your time values for cook time and prep time, we recommend updating that value in your structured data to a single value (for example, “cookTime”: “PT30M”).”
A Third Structured Data Property Changed
Google’s changelog documentation states that only two properties have changed, the cookTime and prepTime properties.
However there is actually a third property that has also changed.
This is what the changelog states:
“Removed guidance about specifying a range for the cookTime and prepTime properties in the Recipe documentation.”
Although Google’s changelog documentation doesn’t mention it, the totalTime property has also changed.
The previous totalTime Recipe documentation states:
“You can use min and max as child elements to specify a range of time.”
Here’s a screenshot of the documentation from January 4, 2022:
Previous totalTime Recommendation
The new documentation omits the above quoted time range recommendation altogether.
New totalTime Recommendation
So although Google’s documentation omits noting the change in the totalTime property, it’s probably prudent to take note that this property has also changed and moving forward to not include a time range for the totalTime property since Google is no longer recommending it.
Recipe Structured Data
Many recipe sites rely on plugins for their structured data. If you use a recipe structured data plugin that also uses the time range, it may be useful to update the current plugin to the most recent version to make sure that your recipe structured data is up to date.
This change in the structured data is very new, it was updated on January 18, 2022.
Citations
Google Changelog – See January 2022