Google's "Discussions and Forums" Feature

JBS

JBS

Active member
Google now has a "Discussions and Forums" section on mobile. What does everyone know about this?

Is Xenforo optimized to make sure we can appear in this section or is Google going to really only be looking at big sites like Reddit?

blog.google

Bringing more voices to Search

Google is helping you make sense of the world by making it easier to find diverse perspectives when you search.
blog.google

www.searchenginejournal.com

Google Highlights Online Discussions & Forums In Search Results

A new feature in Google Search will highlight results from a wider selection of online discussions and forums.
www.searchenginejournal.com www.searchenginejournal.com

9to5google.com

Google Search adding 'Discussions and forums' section and translated news coverage

At Search On 2022, Google announced that "Discussions and forums" will be getting their own sections in results, while translated...
9to5google.com 9to5google.com
 
Last edited:
JBS said:
Google now has a "Discussions and Forums" section on mobile.
Click to expand...

Got a link? When I do a google search for this, all I see is that Google has its own platform for creating discussion groups and forums. No way I'd want to build a forum there, just like Facebook. You're beholden to them, and they can pull the plug any time if you become a disfavored group or topic.
 
Ok... here is the video from Google Search On... it starts at 46:40 in the video...

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

searchon.withgoogle.com

Search On 22

Search outside the box
searchon.withgoogle.com searchon.withgoogle.com
 
PatriotGB said:
Got a link? When I do a google search for this, all I see is that Google has its own platform for creating discussion groups and forums. No way I'd want to build a forum there, just like Facebook. You're beholden to them, and they can pull the plug any time if you become a disfavored group or topic.
Click to expand...
Hi, where is this? Can you provide a link?
 
So... In helper_js_global template we can find this

HTML: 
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "WebSite",
    "url": "{{ link('canonical:index')|escape('js') }}",
    "potentialAction": {
        "@type": "SearchAction",
        "target": "{{ link('canonical:search/search')|escape('js') . ($xf.options.useFriendlyUrls ? '?' : '&') . 'keywords={search_keywords}' }}",
        "query-input": "required name=search_keywords"
    }
}
</script>

Where the @type of a XenForo forum is WebSite.
But this type also exists : DiscussionForumPosting

DiscussionForumPosting - Schema.org Type

Schema.org Type: DiscussionForumPosting - A posting to a discussion forum.
schema.org schema.org

Do you think it's worth changing or does it apply more specifically to a discussion post?
 
nicodak said:
So... In helper_js_global template we can find this

HTML: 
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "WebSite",
    "url": "{{ link('canonical:index')|escape('js') }}",
    "potentialAction": {
        "@type": "SearchAction",
        "target": "{{ link('canonical:search/search')|escape('js') . ($xf.options.useFriendlyUrls ? '?' : '&') . 'keywords={search_keywords}' }}",
        "query-input": "required name=search_keywords"
    }
}
</script>

Where the @type of a XenForo forum is WebSite.
But this type also exists : DiscussionForumPosting

DiscussionForumPosting - Schema.org Type

Schema.org Type: DiscussionForumPosting - A posting to a discussion forum.
schema.org schema.org

Do you think it's worth changing or does it apply more specifically to a discussion post?
Click to expand...
The forum root is website I believe but the actual posts is DiscussionForumPosting. I’m not 100% as I’m not currently on a laptop to check. I’d leave it like that. Google will know what forums to pick up. We’ll also know more once it rolls out to other countries other than US.
 
I just wanted to link this in here as it answers my original question...

rrlevering

Implemented Thread 'Markup improvements for Google'

Hi, my name is Ryan Levering and I currently handle structured data ingestion at Google (this guy). I've been doing some fairly spontaneous spot checks (not based on any specific problem) of some of the major forum software markups on the web just to see whether the markup is being generated in an ideal way for our systems to ingest. You can stick a URL in http://validator.schema.org to get an idea of what your markup for a given URL looks like. I have a couple of high-level suggestions to take or leave as you see fit:
  1. Include more than the OP with...
  • Like
  • Love
 

Similar threads

maxicep
  • Suggestion Suggestion
Duplicate When you think to add "who is viewing threads and forums" feature
Replies
4
Views
2K
Martok
Martok
Back
Top Bottom