What is Subscription and Paywalled Content Structured Data?

Subscription and paywalled content structured data is a type of schema markup that allows webmasters to indicate that certain content on their site is behind a paywall or requires a subscription. This helps search engines like Google differentiate between legitimate paywalled content and cloaking, a practice that violates Google’s spam policies.

Benefits of Subscription and Paywalled Content Structured Data:

1. Transparency:
   • Clearly indicating paywalled content helps maintain transparency with both users and search engines.
2. Compliance:
   • Helps ensure compliance with Google’s guidelines by explicitly marking content as paywalled, avoiding potential penalties for cloaking.
3. Improved User Experience:
   • Users are informed in advance that the content requires a subscription, which can improve user experience by setting clear expectations.

Key Properties of Subscription and Paywalled Content Structured Data:

1. @context and @type:
   • Basic properties that define the context and type of structured data, typically set to "@context": "http://schema.org" and "@type": "MediaSubscription" or "PaywalledContent".
2. isAccessibleForFree:
   • A boolean property that indicates whether the content is accessible for free. For paywalled content, this should be set to false.
3. hasPart:
   • Describes the part of the content that is behind the paywall. This can include properties like @type: WebPageElement.
4. identifier:
   • An identifier for the paywalled content, such as an article ID.

Example of Subscription and Paywalled Content Structured Data:

{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "PaywalledContent",
  "isAccessibleForFree": false,
  "hasPart": {
    "@type": "WebPageElement",
    "isAccessibleForFree": false,
    "cssSelector": ".paywalled-content"
  },
  "identifier": "article-12345"
}

Implementing Subscription and Paywalled Content Structured Data:

To implement this structured data, embed the JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) script into the HTML of your webpage. This script should include all relevant properties and values as shown in the example above.

By using subscription and paywalled content structured data, you can help search engines properly index your content while clearly indicating which parts are behind a paywall, ensuring compliance with search engine guidelines and improving the user experience.

Read More about Google Paywalled Content Structured Data