The mobile version drops structured data
In the reportPages omit structured-data types in the mobile-served version
mobile_structured_data_missing · Issue
This appears when a type such as Product or BreadcrumbList is repeatedly present in desktop HTML and absent from smartphone HTML. Output the intended structured data in both responses.
Severity: Medium. Fix it in your next round of site changes; markup missing on mobile can keep a page from features that depend on it.
Why it matters
Google indexes the mobile version of a page and asks that the mobile and desktop versions have the same structured data; if you must prioritise, it suggests starting with Breadcrumb, Product and VideoObject.
What to do
- Review the desktop and smartphone type counts, total missing count and missing-type samples in the finding.
- Keep the intended JSON-LD, microdata or RDFa in both smartphone and desktop HTML.
- Run another site audit after restoring the missing types.
What we read
We compare a frozen sample of representative pages admitted in this audit. The sample grows with the audit page count, from 10 to 100 when enough eligible pages exist, and is bounded by the available eligible pages. The home page and unresolved same-subject findings have priority, followed by pages from different site sections. The report shows the actual sample size and page count.
There are four observations: smartphone Chrome and desktop Chrome, each confirmed twice with the audit identity. The first smartphone observation reuses the primary crawl response; one smartphone confirmation and two desktop fetches are shared across the mobile comparisons. We read retained HTML without executing JavaScript.
We read expanded absolute type IRIs from JSON-LD, microdata and RDFa. Type IRIs are exact: http://schema.org/Product and https://schema.org/Product differ. Both observations of each role must have complete structured-data artifacts and identical type sets. Any desktop type absent from the smartphone set produces a finding. An empty desktop type set, unread artifact or unstable set leaves the comparison unknown. A script shell is not automatically excluded.
Example & evidence
Illustrative example — one product page on desktop and on phones, not a live audit.
Address: https://bakery.example/shop/rye-bread. Desktop Chrome gets two blocks:
<script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Product","name":"Rye bread"}</script>
<script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Shop","item":"https://bakery.example/shop/"}]}</script>Smartphone Chrome gets only the BreadcrumbList block in both observations, so the desktop Product type is missing and the page is reported.
A possible correction: let the mobile template output the Product block too.
Confirm & check again
Check for yourself: view the page source as a phone, for example with your browser's device mode, and compare the structured-data blocks with the desktop source.
Check again: Full audit — A later audit fixes the finding only after a complete clean comparison of the same requested page and native final-address identity, with every desktop type present on smartphone. Restoring only some missing types keeps it open; removing every desktop type leaves it unknown. An unread or unselected comparison, changed final address or different representative carrier does not prove a fix. Dismissal remains independent.
Limits & sources
Only type IRIs are compared; properties, semantic correctness and rich-result eligibility are not checked. Markup added by executed scripts is not observed. The finding carries bounded missing-type samples and the total missing count.
The frozen sample is not the whole site. A complete own comparison can be usable when another sampled page is unread; incomplete own evidence cannot establish a clean result.
Confidence: Medium because the comparison is repeated on served HTML, without rendering or markup-property verification.
Sources
- Google, Mobile site and mobile-first indexing best practices — asks for the same structured data on mobile and desktop, starting with Breadcrumb, Product and VideoObject. Checked 25 September 2026.
Editorial review: 4 November 2026