Mild-mannered designer by day…
I don’t actually think I’m a superhero. I mean, many people have this notion that superheroes have genetic mutations and have superpowers. Neither of which I have. Unless you count being a triplet as a genetic mutation 😉
Why some review apps like the free YOTPO can't be integrated with JSON-LD for SEO
I was emailing with a JSON-LD for SEO customer recently about why my app was able to access her YOTPO review data on a paid YOTPO plan but not the free YOTPO plan.
It’s a bit technical but it explains why I’m unable to integrate with every review app.
In Shopify there are special areas where apps can save data to Shopify itself. This data can be used by any other app and can act as a way to share data from two different apps. These are called Metafields.
When YOTPO gets a review they save it to their database and show it on the product page.
On paid plans, they also save the total number of reviews and review average to Shopify metafields for that product.
On free plans, that data stays in YOTPO’s database so no other app can access it.
JSON-LD for SEO doesn’t manage any of the reviews or review data, instead it looks for the shared data in the metafields that different apps save. As of today there are 14 different review apps it integrates with so it’s looking in 30+ places in Shopify for this shared data (about 2 fields per app).
When JSON-LD for SEO finds that review data, it’ll add it to your structured data in a specific way so Google will see it.
If it can’t find that shared data, like what happens with the free YOTPO accounts, there’s nothing JSON-LD for SEO can do.
Other review providers work differently.
I know Judge.me’s free plan saves the review data in a way I can access, a paid Stamped.io account also does, as well as many others I’ve integrated with. Even Shopify’s free product reviews app saves the review data in such a way that it’s shareable.
I really wish all review apps would share the review data using what Shopify provides. It would make everything easier for everyone but until they do, there are limits to what any other app can do.
JSON-LD for SEO
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