# The properties Google recommends and almost nobody uses

103 of the 206 properties Google recommends for rich results are used by fewer than 100,000 websites.

> Source: https://eduarddziak.com/structured-data/recommended-gap/
> Snapshot: July 2026
> Requirements read: 11 August 2026
> Data: /data/schema-stats.json and /data/schema-stats.csv
> Licence: Apache 2.0, credit requested. Requirements CC BY 4.0

## Summary

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Distinct properties used by fewer than 100,000 websites | 103 |
| Distinct properties Google recommends, present in the usage file | 206 |
| Share of distinct properties thinly used | 50.00% |
| Distinct properties Google recommends across all live features | 231 |
| Recommendations pointing at a property used by fewer than 100,000 websites | 109 |
| Recommendations present in the usage file | 314 |
| Share of recommendations thinly used | 34.71% |
| Recommendations Google makes across all live features | 339 |
| Live rich result features | 32 |
| Requirements read from Google on | 11 August 2026 |
| Usage snapshot | July 2026 |

## Key findings

- 103 of the 206 properties Google recommends are used by fewer than 100,000 websites.
- Counted as recommendations rather than properties, the gap is 109 of 314, 34.71%.
- Merchant listing alone has 18 of its 44 recommendations thinly used, more than any other feature.
- Google has retired 11 rich result features, and FAQ is one of them.
- I read the requirements from Google's own pages on 11 August 2026, not from memory.

## Retail features carry 40 of the thinly used recommendations

Each row below carries the address of the Google page I read it from and that page's own last-updated date, so you can check any requirement against the source before you act on it.

| Feature | Thinly used | Recommendations | Share | Status | Google page | Page updated |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Merchant listing | 18 | 44 | 40.91% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing | 2026-07-07 |
| Return policy | 11 | 17 | 64.71% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/return-policy | 2025-12-10 |
| Shipping policy | 11 | 24 | 45.83% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/shipping-policy | 2026-01-07 |
| Dataset | 10 | 19 | 52.63% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/dataset | 2025-12-10 |
| Job posting | 9 | 12 | 75.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting | 2025-12-18 |
| Recipe | 8 | 15 | 53.33% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/recipe | 2025-12-10 |
| Organization | 7 | 28 | 25.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization | 2026-04-15 |
| Discussion forum | 4 | 12 | 33.33% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/discussion-forum | 2026-03-24 |
| Vacation rental | 4 | 39 | 10.26% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/vacation-rental | 2025-12-10 |
| Video | 4 | 10 | 40.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video | 2026-02-13 |
| Book | 3 | 8 | 37.50% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/book | 2025-12-10 |
| Education Q&A | 3 | 5 | 60.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/education-qa | 2026-01-06 |
| Q&A page | 3 | 10 | 30.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/qapage | 2026-06-15 |
| Image license metadata | 2 | 5 | 40.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata | 2025-12-10 |
| Local business | 2 | 17 | 11.76% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business | 2025-12-10 |
| Math solvers | 2 | 3 | 66.67% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers | 2025-12-18 |
| Product snippet | 2 | 9 | 22.22% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product-snippet | 2025-12-10 |
| Loyalty program | 2 | 3 | 66.67% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/loyalty-program | 2025-12-10 |
| Factcheck | 1 | 7 | 14.29% | Phasing out | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/factcheck | 2025-12-10 |
| Movie | 1 | 4 | 25.00% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/movie | 2025-12-10 |
| Product variants | 1 | 9 | 11.11% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product-variants | 2026-05-20 |
| Profile page | 1 | 9 | 11.11% | Live | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/profile-page | 2025-12-10 |

I did not expect a single cluster to stand out this clearly. If you run a shop, the recommended properties on these three features are where your markup is most likely to be thinner than Google's page suggests it should be.

## Google has retired 11 rich result features

Structured data advice ages badly, and much of what you will find online still recommends markup for features that no longer exist. FAQ is the one most often got wrong. It is not restricted to health and government sites. It is gone, and the markup you add for it does nothing.

| Feature | Removed | Why, in Google's words |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FAQ | 2026-06 | Documentation removed. Google: "The FAQ rich result feature is no longer shown in Google Search results." Restricted to well-known authoritative government and health websites from 2023-09-14, then withdrawn entirely. |
| Practice problems | 2026-01-06 | Documentation removed. Search Console rich result reporting, the Rich Result Test and the Search appearance filters dropped it in January 2026. |
| Course info | 2025-09-09 | Documentation removed. No longer shown in Google Search results. Distinct from the Course carousel feature, which is still live. |
| Estimated salary | 2025-09-09 | Documentation removed. No longer shown in Google Search results. |
| Learning video | 2025-09-09 | Documentation removed. No longer shown in Google Search results. |
| Special announcement | 2025-09-09 | Documentation removed. No longer shown in Google Search results. |
| Vehicle listing | 2025-09-09 | Documentation removed. No longer shown in Google Search results. |
| Sitelinks search box | 2024-11-29 | Documentation removed and the nositelinkssearchbox rule archived. The feature is no longer available in Google Search results. |
| Home activity | 2024-06 | Documentation removed. The feature no longer appears in Google Search results. |
| How-to | 2023-09-14 | Documentation removed. The rich result is no longer shown in search results, on both desktop and mobile devices. |
| Job training | 2022-05-31 | Documentation removed. Tested with a group of site owners and found not useful for the ecosystem at scale. |

## Known limits of this data

- Google lists some things in its requirement tables that are not Schema.org properties at all. Twenty-five of them are vacation rental amenities such as hotTub and wifi, and one is xPath on the speakable feature. I keep them here because Google asks for them, and none of them carries a usage figure, because there is nothing in Schema.org for them to have one against.
- Names with a dot in them, such as offers.price and ListItem.position, are Google notation for a property nested inside another type rather than Schema.org terms in their own right. The usage figure against them is for the last part of the name.

## How this is measured

Google documents what each rich result needs on its own page and publishes no machine-readable version of any of it, so I read the requirements out of the markup of those pages on 11 August 2026, covering 32 live features. The requirements below carry the address they came from and that page's own last-updated date, so you can check them before you act on them. Google rewrites these pages without announcing it. A requirement quoted without a date is a claim about a target that has already moved.

"Thinly used" on this page always means used by fewer than 100,000 websites in Google's usage file for July 2026.

I then matched those requirements against Google's usage file for July 2026. Counted as distinct properties, Google recommends 231 across the live features, and 206 of them appear in the usage file, which is what lets me put an adoption figure against each one. 103 of those, 50.00%, are used by fewer than a hundred thousand websites. Distinct Schema.org properties, each counted once however many features recommend it. Counted as recommendations instead, one per feature that asks for a property, Google makes 339 across the live features, and 314 of them appear in the usage file. 109 of those, 34.71%, are used by fewer than a hundred thousand websites. One feature asking for one property. A property asked for by nine features counts nine times.

One decision shapes this whole report, and you should weigh it before acting on anything here. I counted only what Google recommends, not what it requires, because required fields are adopted far more widely and the systematic gap is not there. That is not universal. A few features do require a property almost nobody uses, and Book is the clearest case, so a required field is worth checking, not assuming. But what Google merely suggests is where the broad opportunity sits, and it is also where you should be most careful, because a recommended property is a hint about what Google can use, not a promise of a rich result. The known limits above apply to the table as well.

Analysis © Eduard Dziak, licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Please credit eduarddziak.com with a link. Source data: Google and the Schema.org community, Schema.org usage statistics dataset. Rich result requirements: Google Search Central, licensed CC BY 4.0. Term descriptions: Schema.org, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, each term linking to its own page. Crawl counts: HTTP Archive Web Almanac, licensed Apache License 2.0.