How can I add schema.org microdata to a site without displaying it on the page?

Question

I am adding microdata to a site which displays events. After running it through Google's Structured Data Tester, it tells me that I need to include address information for the event venue. If I use:

<td itemprop="location" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Place">
    <a href="#" target="_blank">Hooville</a>
        <div itemprop="address">
            <meta itemprop="addressLocality" >Anystate, USA</meta>
        </div>
</td>

It displays 'Anystate, USA' on the page - I don't want this to happen. I've tried:

<td itemprop="location" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Place">
    <a href="#" target="_blank">Hooville</a>
        <div itemprop="address">
            <meta itemprop="addressLocality" content="Anystate, USA">
        </div>
</td>

But the SDT then no longer finds the address. So, how can I add in the address data without actually displaying it?

EDIT: after a quick look I note that Google doesn't like the use of meta tags to hide content, and that it doesn't like hidden content full stop. So I am between a rock and a hard place - I don't want to display full address details in that part of the site, but the SDT says it should be there...

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 23 '15 at 15:21

There are two possibilities:

you use meta, but correctly, like me:

<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Place"> <meta itemprop="name" content="Hooville" > <a href="http://www.example.com" itemprop="url">Hooville</a> <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"> <meta itemprop="addressLocality" content="Anystate, USA"> </div> </div>

or you go the way of JSON-LD and write the JSON-LD snippet into the head of the page like

{ "@context": { "schema": "http://schema.org/" }, "@graph": [ { "@id": "_:Nf4d71df24b5444298f9c170e1337ec1b", "@type": "schema:PostalAddress", "schema:addressLocality": "Anystate, USA" }, { "@id": "", "rdfa:usesVocabulary": { "@id": "schema:" } }, { "@id": "_:N980cf56db1b7422b80fd7c37ed95951e", "@type": "https://schema.org/Place", "https://schema.org/address": { "@id": "_:Nf4d71df24b5444298f9c170e1337ec1b" }, "https://schema.org/name": "Hooville", "https://schema.org/url": { "@id": "http://www.example.com" } } ] }

Do you know of any negative effects based on this policy from Google: "The meta tag should not be used to hide content that is not visible to users in any form, since it might create misleading or deceptive search experience." - https://developers.google.com/structured-data/policies — ElendilTheTall, Nov 23 '15 at 15:24
it always depends on how you use it. Google is able to see misusage. But i personally haven't seen any negative impact of it. — Evgeniy, Nov 23 '15 at 15:44
@ElendilTheTall: Regarding the "negative effects", my answer about using Microdata with meta/link elements for Schema.org might be relevant. — unor, Nov 23 '15 at 22:49

How can I add schema.org microdata to a site without displaying it on the page?

1 Answers1