Schema Strategy Post‑June 2025: What to Keep, What to Drop, and How to Future‑Proof Markup

Introduction — Why June 2025 matters for schema

In June 2025 Google announced a simplification of Search results that phases out support for several structured data types in rich results. The change is primarily a UI/experience decision — it does not change how Google indexes or ranks pages — but it does affect which schema-driven visual enhancements appear in Search and in Search Console tooling.

This article summarizes the practical implications of the June 2025 updates, lists the schema types you should consider removing from visual-dependant workflows, and gives a concrete checklist to validate, migrate, and future‑proof your markup for generative and traditional search experiences.

What Google phased out (and what that means)

Google publicly announced in June 2025 that several structured data types will no longer produce enhanced visual results in Search. The most-cited list includes: Book Actions, Course (Course Info), ClaimReview, EstimatedSalary, LearningVideo, SpecialAnnouncement, and VehicleListing. Sites using these for visual enhancements should expect those enhancements to disappear from Search results over the following weeks and months.

Key implications

• No ranking penalty: The update is visual/UI‑focused — pages won’t be penalized in rankings solely for using these schema types.
• Search Console & testing tools: Google has also adjusted documentation and reporting; some reporting filters and rich results tests will stop showing these types, so monitoring and GSC exports may change. (See Search Console updates and subsequent reporting changes.)
• Keep vs. retire: You can leave the schema on the page for internal or non‑Google uses (e.g., other consumers, knowledge graphs), but if your CMS, templates, or third‑party feeds are optimized only for Search rich results, plan to remove or repurpose them.

What to keep, what to drop, and replacment priorities

Use the following guidance when auditing site markup:

Drop (or deprioritize) for Search-focused visual enhancements)

• BookAction, Course, ClaimReview, EstimatedSalary, LearningVideo, SpecialAnnouncement, VehicleListing — remove from templates used only to trigger Search rich snippets. If they serve other systems, keep but document their purpose and monitor usage.

Keep and prioritize

• Product, Offer, FAQPage, HowTo, Recipe, VideoObject, LocalBusiness/Organization, JobPosting — these remain widely supported and directly tied to user experiences (shopping, local/knowledge panels, jobs, and video). Continue to optimize these types with complete properties and structured images.
• Persistence of basic properties: Even if a complex type is deprecated from rich results, keeping core properties (name, description, url, image, datePublished, author/publisher) in schema.org‑compliant JSON‑LD helps generative models and other consumers ingest content reliably.

Schema.org is still evolving

Schema.org releases continued through 2025 with incremental vocabulary and property updates — treat schema.org as the canonical vocabulary for describing content and rely on its release notes for new terms and recommended usage.

How to future‑proof your structured data: practical checklist

Follow these concrete steps to protect your investment in structured data and reduce future rework.

1. Inventory & map usage: Export current schema types across your site (crawl + structured data report) and tag where each type is used and why (Search presentation, merchant feeds, internal KG). Prioritize types tied to revenue or critical UX.
2. Remove UI‑only markups from templates: For types that only served to trigger Google visual features, remove them from high‑volume templates to reduce maintenance and false expectations in reporting.
3. Retain core descriptive properties: Keep minimal, canonical properties (name, description, url, image, datePublished, author/publisher) in JSON‑LD so other consumers (AI extractors, marketplaces) can continue to interpret your content.
4. Standardize JSON‑LD & use context versioning: Use JSON‑LD with schema.org @context and keep your deployment consistent. Track the schema.org version used in internal docs or comments so you can map migrations later.
5. Automate validation and monitoring: Add automated checks in CI (use Schema Markup Validator, Rich Results Test where relevant, and run weekly crawls). Implement dashboards to monitor errors and impressions changes after markup changes. Tools like Schema App and others publish monitoring features that can help.
6. Test impact and rollouts: Use A/B tests or staged rollouts: remove the deprecated markup from a subset of pages first, measure CTR/impressions in Search Console and site analytics, then scale changes if impact is neutral or positive.
7. Adapt for generative/AI consumption: Provide structured context blocks (clear metadata, curated snippets, entity pages) that help generative models and shopping/knowledge systems even when Search rich UI is simplified. Consider building stable entity pages using schema.org types that remain supported (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article).
8. Update documentation and vendor integrations: Change CMS templates, plugins, and third‑party feeds (PIM, marketplace exports) that insert deprecated types. Communicate changes to stakeholders and keep a changelog with dates and reasons.
9. Monitor Search Console reporting changes: Google has updated documentation and, after June 2025, has been removing certain types from Search Console filters and reporting; keep an eye on GSC announcements and bulk exports to avoid broken monitoring queries.

Quick recovery tips: If you remove a schema type and later need it for another consumer, maintain a small library of canonical JSON‑LD snippets per content type so you can reintroduce markup quickly without rebuilding templates.