Structured Data for Subscription & Paywalled Content (CreativeWork): Documents Guide

Posted on Posted in Blog
Structured Data for Subscription & Paywalled Content (CreativeWork): Documents Guide

If your site offers content behind a paywall or requires registration, you can use schema.org JSON-LD to clearly indicate which parts are not accessible for free. Properly marking paywalled sections helps Google distinguish legitimate subscription models from cloaking (which violates spam policies) and ensures your paywalled content is still crawled and indexed where intended.

Education Q&A (Quiz, Question, and Answer) Structured Data Guide

Note: Only implement this if you want your paywalled content indexed. Otherwise, skip this guide and block indexing via robots.txt or noindex.

Example: NewsArticle with Paywalled Section

htmlCopyEdit<html>
  <head>
    <title>Article headline</title>
    <script type="application/ld+json">
    {
      "@context": "https://schema.org",
      "@type": "NewsArticle",
      "headline": "Article headline",
      "image": "https://kumarharshit.in/thumbnail1.jpg",
      "datePublished": "2025-02-05T08:00:00+08:00",
      "dateModified": "2025-02-05T09:20:00+08:00",
      "author": {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "John Doe",
        "url": "https://kumarharshit.in/profile/johndoe123"
      },
      "description": "A most wonderful article",
      "isAccessibleForFree": false,
      "hasPart": {
        "@type": "WebPageElement",
        "isAccessibleForFree": false,
        "cssSelector": ".paywall"
      }
    }
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="non-paywall">
      Non-Paywalled Content
    </div>
    <div class="paywall">
      Paywalled Content
    </div>
  </body>
</html>
Structured Data Carousels (Beta): A Third‑Party Guide

Guidelines

You must follow Google’s general structured data and technical guidelines plus these paywall-specific rules:

  1. Format: JSON-LD or Microdata are both accepted.
  2. Selectors: Use only class selectors (e.g., .paywall) in cssSelector.
  3. No Nesting: Don’t nest one paywalled section inside another.
  4. Mark Only Paywalled Parts: Wrap each subscription-only section in its own element with a unique class.

Violation Warning: Misusing these properties (e.g., to hide cloaked content) may render your pages ineligible for search results. Review Spammy Structured Markup for details.

Google Search Analytics API Now Supports Hourly Data (With Code Samples)

Step-by-Step Implementation

  1. Wrap Paywalled Sections htmlCopyEdit<body> <p>Visible to all users.</p> <div class="paywall">Subscribers only content.</div> </body>
  2. Add or Extend Your CreativeWork Schema
    Within your existing CreativeWork (e.g., NewsArticle) JSON-LD, include: jsonCopyEdit"isAccessibleForFree": false, "hasPart": { "@type": "WebPageElement", "isAccessibleForFree": false, "cssSelector": ".paywall" }
  3. Validate
    • Run your page through the Rich Results Test.
    • Fix any critical errors before deployment.
Robots Meta Tag, Data-Nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag Specifications

Multiple Paywalled Sections

If you have more than one paywalled area, supply an array under hasPart:

jsonCopyEdit"hasPart": [
  {
    "@type": "WebPageElement",
    "isAccessibleForFree": false,
    "cssSelector": ".section1"
  },
  {
    "@type": "WebPageElement",
    "isAccessibleForFree": false,
    "cssSelector": ".section2"
  }
]

Supported CreativeWork Types

This paywall markup works with any CreativeWork or its subtypes:

  • Article
  • NewsArticle
  • Blog
  • Comment
  • Course
  • HowTo
  • Message
  • Review
  • WebPage

You can even combine types:

jsonCopyEdit"@type": ["Article", "LearningResource"]

Required vs. Recommended Properties

PropertyTypeRequired?Notes
isAccessibleForFreeBoolean✔️Must be false for paywalled content.
hasPart.cssSelectorCssSelectorType✔️References the HTML class wrapping paywalled section(s).
hasPart.@typeText (WebPageElement)✔️Identifies the paywalled segment.
hasPart.isAccessibleForFreeBoolean✔️Must be false.

Tip: Adding more hasPart entries lets you precisely define each paywalled block on complex pages.

Google Remove Breadcrumbs for Mobile Search Results WorldWide

AMP Considerations

  • For AMP pages with subscriptions, implement amp-subscriptions.
  • Ensure your authorization endpoint allows Google’s bots the same access as users—mismatches can trigger content mismatch errors in Search Console.

Generative AI in Search

When Google’s AI Overviews or AI Mode generate previews, they follow your page’s preview controls (e.g., meta tags or data-nosnippet).

Crawling Out of December: A 2024 Recap

Ensuring Crawl & Index Access

  1. Use the URL Inspection Tool to verify Googlebot can fetch both free and paywalled sections.
  2. If you want parts excluded from snippets, apply data-nosnippet or max-snippet meta tags.

Troubleshooting

  • CMS Users: Forward any Search Console errors to your developer or plugin support.
  • General Errors: Check the Unparsable Structured Data report.
  • Manual Actions: Use the Manual Actions report in Search Console if flagged.
  • Re-indexing Delays: Allow a few days after deployment for Google to re-crawl.
  • Search & Indexing FAQ: For more crawling/indexing guidelines, see Google’s Crawling and Indexing FAQ.

For community support, post questions in the Google Search Central forum.

Meet Harshit Kumar: India’s Most Famous SEO Specialist & Freelancer

About the Author
Harshit Kumar is a seasoned SEO Specialist & consultant specializing in structured data and content indexing strategies. With over seven years of experience, he helps publishers and developers properly implement schema markup—boosting both visibility and compliance. Connect with Harshit at KumarHarshit.in.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*