To standardise the way numbers are written in the structured data code for reviews, Google modified the review snippet.
The modification standardises one method for writing decimal numbers as opposed to another that is rather popular in other nations.
Review Snippet Structured Data
For websites that incorporate product reviews, the review snippet structured data is crucial since good markup and reviews can lead to a rich snippet result or a Knowledge Panel that includes ratings and a summary of the review.
Eligible topics that are affected by this change are:
“Book
Course
Event
How-to
Local business (only for sites that capture reviews about other local businesses…)
Movie
Product
Recipe
Software App”Google’s documentation explains what a review snippet is:
“A review snippet is a short excerpt of a review or a rating from a review website, usually an average of the combined rating scores from many reviewers.
When Google finds valid reviews or ratings markup, we may show a rich snippet that includes stars and other summary info from reviews or ratings.
In addition to the text of the review, a rating is an evaluation described on a numeric scale (such as 1 to 5).”
It is ideal to rank a review with a rich result, thus it’s critical to stay updated on any modifications to the structured data documentation.
Change to How Numbers Can Be Expressed
The modification to Google’s structured data has an impact on how decimals are expressed.
The major part of the number and the decimal or cents part may be separated from one another in some countries’ currency expressions by commas.
One hundred euros and twenty-five cents, for instance, have two ways to be expressed.
- Comma version: €100,25
- Dot version: €100.25
Google is standardising the way numbers stated as decimals are expressed in structured data.
The visible web page itself is unaffected by the change in how it is written.
The actual review snippet structured data documentation is almost unchanged.
One paragraph has a minor alteration that has no bearing on the meaning (removal of quotation marks).
A completely new paragraph contains the significant change.
This is the new paragraph:
“For decimal numbers, use a dot instead of a comma to specify the value (for example 4.4 instead of 4,4).
In Microdata and RDFa, you can use content attributes to override the visible content.
That way, you can show the user whatever style convention you want, while also satisfying the dot requirement for structured data.
For example:
<span itemprop=”ratingValue” content=”4.4″>4,4</span> stars”
Is the Change to the Structured Data Mandatory?
The revised Review Snippet Structured Data makes it abundantly apparent that dots should be used in place of commas to denote decimals.
However, the manual makes no mention of the fact that using commas will produce structured data that is invalid. It merely instructs to substitute dots for commas.
However, that information is communicated in another statement.
The extra details are available in Google’s changelog, which serves as a record of updates to their developer documentation.
Google’s changelog notes provides this additional information:
“Updated Review Snippet structured data to recommend using dot separators for decimal ratings.
If you’re currently using comma separators for decimal ratings in your markup, you’ll still be eligible for review snippets.
However, we recommend that you update your markup for a more accurate interpretation.”
Dots Are Recommended But Not Mandatory
The hidden information in Google’s changelog reveals that commas can continue to be used in structured data.
Although commas are still acceptable and will still be eligible for review snippets, Google advises against using them.
Generally speaking, making things simple for search engines is a good idea. Therefore, utilising dots might give users confidence that Google will comprehend the structured data if it is recommended by Google.
Strangely, there is no mention of commas being permissible in the official review snippet structured data documentation, which is where that assertion should be.
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