Yoast v.11 was released this week, along with a huge update to their schema implementation. This updated schema is a more modern implementation of what’s available and enabled by default in Genesis themes, such as those by FeastDesignCo.com.
This means that there’s currently conflicting, duplicate schema on food blogs running Yoast, which may adversely affect search engine rankings:
You can check your site using Google’s Structured Data Testing tool: https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool
Since the Yoast schema is the more thorough and modern, it makes the most sense to disable the Genesis schema.
Everybody needs to fix this. Full stop.
You have two options to disable this:
Feast Plugin
This sort of functionality update is exactly the type of situation that the Feast Plugin is designed for. The Feast Plugin v.1.8.1. is now available that enables you to deactivate the Genesis Schema with the click of a checkbox:
Enabling this will remove the duplicate Genesis schema, leaving you with a single properly formatted “Article” schema from Yoast:
This single schema element contains ALL the previously separate schema, including header, footer, creativework, navigation element, and breadcrumbs – plus more!
Feast Plugin v.2.0 will be out in the next few weeks with the auto-update feature. For now, please follow the updating instructions at: https://feastdesignco.com/feast-plugin-faq
Note: after enabling this feature, you’ll need to refresh your caches to see the result.
Manual Method
Bill Erickson released the code to resolve this: https://www.billerickson.net/yoast-schema-with-genesis/
However, as with all theme customizations, this will be lost when you update your theme. You also become responsible for maintaining this customization, and may experience issues if and when Genesis removes their schema from the Genesis theme.
Historically, this sort of complex, manual code editing has been the only way to deal with this sort of issue. With the Feast Plugin, this is now a thing of the past.
We highly recommend using the Feast Plugin to resolve this, so that we can automatically remove this on your behalf when it’s no longer necessary.
Update your Yoast Organization Profile
With either method, you’ll also need to add/update your organization profile in SEO > Search Appearance > Knowledge Graph & Schema
You’ll get an error in the structured data testing tool if this isn’t set up.
Enable Yoast Breadcrumbs
Yoast’s breadcrumb schema is disabled by default, and with the Genesis breadcrumb schema being removed, you’ll want to enable Yoast’s in SEO > Search Appearance > Breadcrumbs Settings :
Q: does this affect recipe schema?
No, Yoast has not implemented any sort of recipe schema that would cause a conflict with Tasty Recipes or WPRM.
Q: do I need to undo my Genesis breadcrumbs schema?
No, the code from Bill Erickson (and via the Feast Plugin) handles removing breadcrumb schema on its own.
Questions?
Leave any questions below!
Neat factoid: back in 2013, Yoast migrated their blog to a Genesis theme and boasted about the Genesis schema implementation, plus extended it: https://developer.yoast.com/schema-org-genesis-2-0/
Bill Erickson contributed at that point too, and the post author (Joost, the founder of Yoast) now leads marketing at Automattic (WordPress): https://joost.blog/leading-marketing-communication-for-wordpress/