Course list (Course) structured data

An illustration of how a course list can appear in Google Search. It shows 3 different courses from the same website in a list format that users can explore and select a specific course

With course list structured data, you can provide more information about your courses so that prospective students find your courses through Google Search. You can provide details including the course name, who's offering it, and a short description.

There are two course rich result features that use the same schema.org Course type. If your site provides information about courses, you can be eligible for both features by following both implementation guides:

  • Course list: A rich result that lists courses from the same website.
  • Course info: A carousel that shows detailed course information from a variety of websites.

How to add structured data

Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the page content. If you're new to structured data, you can learn more about how structured data works.

Here's an overview of how to build, test, and release structured data.

  1. Add the required properties. Based on the format you're using, learn where to insert structured data on the page.
  2. Follow the guidelines.
  3. Validate your code using the Rich Results Test and fix any critical errors. Consider also fixing any non-critical issues that may be flagged in the tool, as they can help improve the quality of your structured data (however, this isn't necessary to be eligible for rich results).
  4. Deploy a few pages that include your structured data and use the URL Inspection tool to test how Google sees the page. Be sure that your page is accessible to Google and not blocked by a robots.txt file, the noindex tag, or login requirements. If the page looks okay, you can ask Google to recrawl your URLs.
  5. To keep Google informed of future changes, we recommend that you submit a sitemap. You can automate this with the Search Console Sitemap API.

Examples

Single course details page

Here's an example of a single course details page. This page must be paired with a summary page that contains the ItemList markup.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Introduction to Computer Science and Programming</title>
    <script type="application/ld+json">
    {
      "@context": "https://schema.org",
      "@type": "Course",
      "name": "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming",
      "description": "Introductory CS course laying out the basics.",
      "provider": {
        "@type": "Organization",
        "name": "University of Technology - Eureka",
        "sameAs": "https://www.example.com"
      }
    }
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
  </body>
</html>

Single, all-in-one page

Here's an example of a single, all-in-one page. This page setup includes both the list markup and the details for each course on the same page.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Computer Science Courses</title>
    <script type="application/ld+json">
    {
      "@context": "https://schema.org",
      "@type": "ItemList",
      "itemListElement": [
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 1,
          "item": {
            "@type": "Course",
            "url":"https://www.example.com/courses#intro-to-cs",
            "name": "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming",
            "description": "This is an introductory CS course laying out the basics.",
            "provider": {
              "@type": "Organization",
              "name": "University of Technology - Example",
              "sameAs": "https://www.example.com"
           }
          }
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 2,
          "item": {
            "@type": "Course",
            "url":"https://www.example.com/courses#intermediate-cs",
            "name": "Intermediate Computer Science and Programming",
            "description": "This is a CS course that builds on the basics learned in the Introduction course.",
            "provider": {
              "@type": "Organization",
              "name": "University of Technology - Example",
              "sameAs": "https://www.example.com"
           }
         }
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 3,
          "item": {
            "@type": "Course",
            "url":"https://www.example.com/courses#advanced-cs",
            "name": "Advanced Computer Science and Programming",
            "description": "This CS course covers advanced programming principles.",
            "provider": {
              "@type": "Organization",
              "name": "University of Technology - Eureka",
              "sameAs": "https://www.example.com"
           }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
  </body>
</html>

Guidelines

You must follow these guidelines to be eligible to appear in a course list.

Content guidelines

  • Only use Course markup for educational content that fits the following definition of a course: A series or unit of curriculum that contains lectures, lessons, or modules in a particular subject and/or topic.
  • A course must have an explicit educational outcome of knowledge and/or skill in a particular subject and/or topic, and be led by one or more instructors with a roster of students.
  • A general public event such as "Astronomy Day" is not a course, and a single 2-minute "How to make a Sandwich Video" is not a course.

Technical guidelines

You must mark up at least three courses. The courses can be on separate detail pages, or in an all-in-one page.

You must add Carousel markup to either a summary page or an all-in-one page.

Each course must have valid name and provider properties. For example, the following naming practices are not valid:

  • Promotional phrases: "Best school in the world"
  • Prices in course titles: "Learn ukulele - only $30!"
  • Using something other than a course for a title, such as: "Make money fast with this class!"
  • Discounts or purchase opportunties, such as: "Leaders in their fields share their secrets — 25% off!"

Structured data type definitions

You must include the required properties for your content to be eligible for display as a rich result. You can also include the recommended properties to add more information about your content, which could provide a better user experience.

Course

Use the following properties to mark up at least three courses. The courses can be on separate detail pages, or in an all-in-one page.

The full definition of Course is available at schema.org/Course. The Google-supported properties are the following:

Required properties
description

Text

A description of the course. Display limit of 60 characters.
name

Text

The title of the course.
Recommended properties
provider

Organization

The organization that publishes the source content of the course. For example, UC Berkeley.

ItemList

In addition to Course properties, add the following properties to specify the list. You can add these properties to either a summary page or an all-in-one page.

The full definition of ItemList is available at schema.org/ItemList.

Required properties
itemListElement

ListItem

Annotation for a single item page.
ListItem.position

Integer

Ordinal position of the item page in the list.
ListItem.url

URL

The canonical URL of the item page. Every item must have a unique URL.

Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble implementing or debugging structured data, here are some resources that may help you.

  • If you're using a content management system (CMS) or someone else is taking care of your site, ask them to help you. Make sure to forward any Search Console message that details the issue to them.
  • Google does not guarantee that features that consume structured data will show up in search results. For a list of common reasons why Google may not show your content in a rich result, see the General Structured Data Guidelines.
  • You might have an error in your structured data. Check the list of structured data errors and the Unparsable structured data report.
  • If you received a structured data manual action against your page, the structured data on the page will be ignored (although the page can still appear in Google Search results). To fix structured data issues, use the Manual Actions report.
  • Review the guidelines again to identify if your content isn't compliant with the guidelines. The problem can be caused by either spammy content or spammy markup usage. However, the issue may not be a syntax issue, and so the Rich Results Test won't be able to identify these issues.
  • Troubleshoot missing rich results / drop in total rich results.
  • Allow time for re-crawling and re-indexing. Remember that it may take several days after publishing a page for Google to find and crawl it. For general questions about crawling and indexing, check the Google Search crawling and indexing FAQ.
  • Post a question in the Google Search Central forum.