Schema markup concerning category pages on an ecommerce site

[LesleyPaone]

We are adding json+ld data to an ecommerce site and myself and one of the other people working on the site are having a minor disagreement on things. What it comes down to is how to mark up the category page. One of us says it needs to be marked up with as an Itempage, https://schema.org/ItemPage  The other says it needs to be marked up as products, with multiple product instances in the schema, https://schema.org/Product

The main sticking point on the Itemlist is that Itemlist is a child of intangible, so there is a feeling that should be used for things like track listings or other arbitrary data.

[SkunkworksCreativeGroup]

Here's what I came up with: Validator Result.

Note that there's no guarantee this will pass muster with Google since they've said that the Product schema is for use on "a product page that describes a single product"

Here's an official response.

[Madstrategist]

Are there any official decisions? I'm also considering adding schema markup to category pages. After running a competitor analysis I noticed this is something that I nor my competitor have in practice. So, I figured this will help my ranking for category pages. However, our product lists are frequently updated. So, would it be best if I went with https://schema.org/ItemPage, and if I went with https://schema.org/Product would I have to update the schema when there are changes in the product list.

[Chris_CBCAds]

Which did you end up going with?

[LesleyPaone]

The load time is not an issue really since it is just text data and only about 20 products. We have a nifty setup actually, we use Algolia to display the products on the category page, we are just making a double call to Algolia before the page render and taking their json array and modifying it into what is needed.

If you run this page through the Structured data testing tool, https://www.ebay.com/b/Fine-Jewelry/4196/bn_2408477  this is what one of us is proposing. See how the tool does not break each into a product node.

At the other time this is a page that the other is proposing,  https://www.apple.com/shop/mac/mac-accessories  It breaks the products into nodes. (albeit there are errors that can be fixed with the pricing)

I think this better illustrates the issue.

[Roman-Delcarmen]

Logan when I grow up I want to be like you... jejeje is a joke but as, I see you are very active member of the community and always your answers are clear and concise.

Good for you

[LoganRay]

Hi there,

I haven't heard of using product markup on category pages until reading your question. It's a good idea and while researching I came across this other thread from a couple years ago: https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/q/google-rich-snippets-in-e-commerce-category-pages

My main concern is that most ecomm category pages have a lot of products showing by default, and if you've got a snippet of JSON+LD for each of those, you're going to hurt your page speeds. Just something to be mindful of and monitor if you do decide to go this route.