Search Console separates structured data problems into errors, which stop a page being eligible for an enhanced result, and warnings, which flag a missing optional field and usually change nothing. Most reported items are warnings, and the more serious problem is markup that validates perfectly while describing something the page does not say.
Errors and warnings are not the same
The reporting presents both together, which leads businesses to treat a page with nine warnings as broken when it is working exactly as intended.
An error means a required field is missing or malformed, and the page is not eligible for the enhanced result that markup would produce. Worth fixing.
A warning means an optional field is absent. The markup is valid and the page remains eligible. Adding the field may improve how the result is displayed, and leaving it does not break anything.
Fixing every warning is a common way to spend a day for no measurable outcome, particularly on markup types that no longer produce a visible result at all.
The errors that actually appear
- Missing required field. A type demands certain properties and one is absent, usually because a plugin generated the markup without the information.
- Invalid value type. A field expecting a date received text, or a number received a string with a currency symbol.
- Malformed markup. A syntax problem, frequently caused by an unescaped quotation mark in a business name or description.
- Duplicate conflicting blocks. A theme and two plugins each adding their own markup, producing contradictory statements about the same page.
- Markup for content not on the page. The most serious category, discussed below.
The problem that does not show as an error
Markup can be perfectly valid and completely wrong.
Opening hours in the markup that do not match the hours on the page. A phone number that changed on the visible page and not in the structured data. A service area that was updated in one place. An address from two moves ago.
Validators check the shape of the data, not its truth, so all of this passes. Meanwhile a machine reading your site is being told something confidently incorrect, and that is worse than having no markup at all, because it is asserting a fact rather than leaving one to be inferred.
The rule is that markup must reflect what the page actually says, which is set out alongside the types worth having in schema markup for a local service business.
Where duplicates come from
The most common source of confusing reports on small business sites.
A theme adds business markup. An SEO plugin adds its own. A reviews plugin adds a third. Each is individually valid and together they make contradictory statements, so the reporting shows errors that do not correspond to anything visible in the page.
Finding them means looking at the page source and counting the structured data blocks. More than one describing the same thing is the problem, and the fix is to disable the markup output in all but one source rather than trying to reconcile them.
What to do when something is reported
- Separate errors from warnings and set the warnings aside entirely for now.
- Check whether the affected type still produces anything. Some markup types have been retired, and errors on a deprecated type are not worth an afternoon.
- Test one affected page with the rich results tool to see the parsed output rather than the summary.
- Count the blocks in the page source to rule out duplicates before assuming a field is missing.
- Compare the values against the visible page, which is the check nobody runs and the one that finds the real problem.
- Fix at the source, meaning the plugin or template generating it, rather than editing individual pages.
What is genuinely worth fixing
In order: anything factually wrong, duplicates producing contradictions, errors on types that still produce enhanced results, and then, if there is time, warnings on those same types.
Errors on retired types can be left, and the markup itself can stay. Unused structured data does not cause problems, and removing it is optional work rather than a fix.
The maintenance point
Structured data is generated once and then quietly goes out of date, because nobody thinks of it when the hours change or the phone number is updated.
The practical habit is to add it to the same short list as everything else factual: whenever hours, address, phone, service area, or services change, the markup is checked alongside the visible page. That takes a minute and prevents the slow drift into a site that confidently declares details that stopped being true two years ago.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a structured data error and a warning?
An error means a required field is missing or malformed, so the page is not eligible for the enhanced result. A warning means an optional field is absent, the markup is still valid, and usually nothing is broken.
Do I need to fix every structured data warning?
Usually not. Warnings flag optional fields and the page remains eligible without them. Fixing all of them is a common way to spend a day for no measurable outcome.
Why does my markup validate but still seem wrong?
Validators check the shape of the data rather than its truth. Hours, phone numbers, or addresses that no longer match the visible page pass validation while telling machines something confidently incorrect.
Why am I seeing errors I cannot find on the page?
Frequently duplicate markup. A theme, an SEO plugin, and a reviews plugin each adding their own blocks produce contradictory statements. Count the blocks in the page source before assuming a field is missing.
Should I fix errors on deprecated markup types?
No. Errors on a type that no longer produces a result are not worth the time, and the markup itself can stay since unused structured data does not cause problems.
How often should structured data be checked?
Whenever anything factual changes: hours, address, phone, service area, or services. Markup is generated once and then drifts silently, because nobody thinks of it when updating the visible page.
West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.
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