[Resolved] Migrating to GeneratePress – code changes a bad thing?

Hi Will,

The code output from GeneratePress is very clean, so I wouldn’t worry there.

However, the structured data output from GeneratePress is very simple – it provides the bare minimum for a basic site.

If you need a more complex structured data output, you should look into using a JSON-LD plugin. Most SEO plugins have JSON-LD built-in, but there are some dedicated plugins to it as well.

Then you could disable the structured data from GeneratePress:

add_filter( 'generate_schema_type', '__return_false' );

I think that a theme having a complex structured data system is a mistake, and your current situation kind of shows that. Structured data is tied to your content, and a theme should have minimal impact on your content.

Using a plugin should give you the desired output regardless of the theme you choose or switch to.

The structured data you’re highlighting there is being pulled from the actual content area (set to CreativeWork).

Your Header Element outside of this area, so the schema focusing on the content area won’t pick it up.

You could:

a) Add your own structured data to the HTML in the Header Element.
b) Rely on JSON-LD instead of structured data markup. This way, depending on the plugin you’re using, you should be able to set the excerpt for the page.

JSON-LD is preferable here, and it doesn’t care about the structure of your page, the data is fed directly to the JSON-LD markup.

Also, it’s important to note that Google will still read and use text that isn’t included in your schema – it’s still content on the page that it crawled. The structured data is simply a guide that some search engines use to better understand the structure of the page.

If it was me, I would go the JSON-LD route via a plugin that is 100% dedicated to it.

If you have JSON-LD outputting the same data in that format instead of structured data, then there should be no difference.

Without it, your structured data will change from the old site to the new site – I’m not sure what kind of importance Google puts into structured data like this when it comes to rankings.

Nothing will overwrite what GeneratePress outputs – you need to manually disable the GP output like this: https://generatepress.com/forums/topic/migrating-to-generatepress-code-changes-a-bad-thing/#post-1686988

Then, you need to set up the JSON-LD output (whether that’s from Yoast or another source) to include things like the excerpt, content, author, and so on.

Yes, I would disable the basic GP schema in favor of a more robust JSON-LD solution (like Yoast provides).

The GP solution is as simple as it gets for very basic websites. In your case, you’re adding excerpts and other things outside of the content area, so a more robust solution is a good idea.

You would likely lose the CreativeWork, hcard, and SiteNavigationElement entries there.

You shouldn’t notice any declines, but I can’t really guarantee anything when it comes to Google/ranking. As long as the page still has all of the necessary data being output, Google should be happy.

SiteNavigationElement won’t conflict as Yoast doesn’t mess with this but CreativeWork most likely will.

It’s recommended to completely disable theme generated schema of you’re using Yoast.

Using the little code snippet I mentioned here will tell GeneratePress to get out of the way and allow Yoast to do what it needs to do: https://generatepress.com/forums/topic/migrating-to-generatepress-code-changes-a-bad-thing/#post-1686988