How to Manually Remove Microdata Identified by Itemprop in Your Shopify Store

Introduction

As a Shopify entrepreneur aiming to optimize your store's performance and search visibility, you might encounter the need to adjust or remove microdata. Microdata, particularly those elements identified by itemprop, can affect how search engines read and display your content. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the process of manually removing microdata from your Shopify store, focusing on meta, link, and form elements. We'll also address common questions and concerns related to this topic.

Understanding Microdata and Schema Markup

Microdata is a way to nest metadata within the existing content of your HTML documents. This helps search engines understand the context of your content, which can improve your SEO. Schema.org provides a collection of shared vocabularies webmasters can use to mark up their pages in ways recognized by major search providers.

What is Itemprop?

The itemprop attribute is used within schema.org markup to specify the properties of an item. For example, itemprop="name" might be used to specify the name of a product or business.

Identifying the Problem

When you're cleaning up or editing the code in your Shopify store, you might need to remove certain microdata elements. This can be necessary for various reasons, such as to prevent incorrect information from being displayed in search results or to simplify your code.

In your editing process, you may be unsure about which elements should be removed. The confusion often arises when dealing with meta and link tags, and also whether form elements associated with them should be deleted.

Step-by-Step Guide to Manually Remove Microdata

Step 1: Locate the Relevant Code

First, locate the relevant code in your Shopify backend or your text editor, such as Visual Studio Code.

<meta itemprop="price" content="29.99">
<link itemprop="availability" href="http://schema.org/InStock">
<form action="/cart/add" method="post" itemprop="offer">
  <input type="hidden" name="id" value="123456">
</form>

Step 2: Identify the Elements to Remove

According to the schema.org guidelines, you need to remove meta and link elements identified by itemprop. In most cases, form elements should remain intact as they serve a functional purpose.

Elements to delete:

<meta itemprop="price" content="29.99">
<link itemprop="availability" href="http://schema.org/InStock">

Elements to keep:

<form action="/cart/add" method="post" itemprop="offer">
  <input type="hidden" name="id" value="123456">
</form>

Step 3: Edit the Code

Remove the meta and link lines while keeping the form elements. Your code should now look like this:

<form action="/cart/add" method="post" itemprop="offer">
  <input type="hidden" name="id" value="123456">
</form>

Step 4: Save and Test

Save your changes and check your product pages to ensure everything is displaying and functioning correctly.

Addressing Common Concerns and Questions

Question 1: Should I Remove the href Attribute?

Answer: If the href attribute is part of a link element with an itemprop, it should be removed along with the rest of the link element. The href attribute alone won’t affect the presence or absence of microdata.

Question 2: Can Removing Microdata Affect SEO?

Answer: Yes, removing microdata can affect how search engines interpret your page's content. If you remove structured data that search engines use to display rich snippets, your search result listing might become less informative. Only remove microdata if it is incorrect or unnecessary.

Conclusion

Manually removing microdata from your Shopify store's theme can be a granular but necessary task to ensure that your site functions optimally and delivers the desired SEO results. Always back up your code before making changes and test thoroughly to ensure your site remains functional and user-friendly. If in doubt, consult with an expert to ensure your changes won't negatively impact your store's performance.

By following this guide, you can confidently manage and edit microdata in your Shopify store, leading to cleaner code and potentially better SEO performance. Happy editing!