Google's "Discussions and Forums" Feature

[JBS]

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?

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

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

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

 

[JoyFreak]

Interesting! Be good to see if xenforo forums are being indexed for this. Let us know if you find out more!

 

[PatriotGB]

Google now has a "Discussions and Forums" section on mobile.

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.

 

[Nicolas FR]

How will Google bots qualify visited sites as forums? With schema.org structured data?

 

[JBS]

Got a link?

Sorry... that first link I had up there was not the right one... I fixed it now.

Here it is again...

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

 

[JBS]

Ok... here is the video from Google Search On... it starts at 46:40 in the video...

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Search On 22

Search outside the box

searchon.withgoogle.com

 

[JoyFreak]

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.

Hi, where is this? Can you provide a link?

 

[Nicolas FR]

So... In helper_js_global template we can find this

<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

Do you think it's worth changing or does it apply more specifically to a discussion post?

 

[JoyFreak]

So... In helper_js_global template we can find this

<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

Do you think it's worth changing or does it apply more specifically to a discussion post?

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.

 

[JBS]

I just wanted to link this in here as it answers my original question...

Implemented Thread 'Markup improvements for Google'

Mar 17, 2023

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...

• rrlevering
• google schema.org
• Replies: 116
• Forum: Closed suggestions

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