Google’s Latest Update Breaks Schema Markup Services Offered by Web Agencies

Things are not the same anymore. Google’s recent decision to deprecate several structured data types is reshaping the SEO industry and undermining one of the most marketed service products in enterprise web design – niche schema markup.

The update confirms that Google is simplifying search results by removing features tied to certain schema types, signalling a shift away from rich-result-heavy search experiences.

According to recent analyses, this move exposes the inefficiency of investing heavily in specialised schema markup. And now, Web Agencies that have been charging clients for complex or “niche” schema implementation are now being called out for offering low-value, high-cost services.

Truth is, SEO experts warn that such offerings are becoming obsolete, describing agencies that continue to push them as “scammers.”

Deprecated Schema

Google’s deprecations affect a range of structured data categories and features, including:

• Nutrition facts, local bike share status, and TV season selector
• Practice problem and Dataset structured data (the latter now limited to Google Dataset Search only)
• Claim review, learning video, special announcements, and estimated salary
• Course info, vehicle listings, and nearby offers and events

These removals confirm Google’s move toward automation and simplification. The company now often generates rich results independently, even without explicit schema on a page — making manual schema markup less relevant.

Case Against Schema Dependence

Schema markup, typically written in JSON-LD, was designed to help search engines understand webpage content.

However, implementation is costly, technically demanding, and requires ongoing maintenance and testing. Despite this investment, results are unpredictable. I can say for a fact that Google may ignore the data, fail to display rich results, or apply the same search enhancements to pages without schema.

New SEO Focus

So with schema’s role diminishing, SEO professionals have no choice but to return to fundamentals that produce measurable results. The core strategy now revolves around:

• On-Page SEO: This involves selecting high-intent keywords, satisfying user search intent instantly, and building comprehensive pages that anticipate the searcher’s next actions.
• On-Site SEO: This covers maintaining a logical site architecture, clean URLs, optimised metadata, and eliminating orphan pages.
• Off-Site SEO: These are the strategies used to acquire high-quality contextual backlinks. They drive referral traffic and aid in building brand authority through mentions.

I leave you with the fact that if Google’s structured data rollback has made one thing clear, it is that the future of SEO will not be defined by microdata or markup complexity but by fundamentals.

The fundamentals of website technical health, website content depth and relevance, and website and author’s genuine authority.

Consequently, web agencies that built their offerings around specialised schema products must now pivot or risk selling an obsolete service. And for marketers and business owners, you might want to take this up with your web designer on how they intend to mitigate this latest disruption