WebSite schema and SearchAction: check 8

Short answer: WebSite structured data tells Google your site's name, and any other names people know it by. That still matters, because it's how Google picks the site name shown above your results. The SearchAction part, which used to power a search box under your result, does nothing in Google any more: Google removed the sitelinks search box in November 2024. Crawl Audit check 8 looks for both.

What Crawl Audit checks

• Pass: the page has a WebSite node with a potentialAction, usually a SearchAction.
• Warning: a WebSite node with no potentialAction.
• Warning: no WebSite node at all.

Here's the honest reading. If check 8 warns only because the SearchAction is missing, that costs you nothing in Google today. If it warns because there's no WebSite node at all, fix that one, because the site name depends on it.

The sitelinks search box is gone

Google announced it in October 2024: "we'll be removing this visual element starting on November 21, 2024". It removed the documentation on 29 November 2024. Google also said there's "no need" to remove existing SearchAction markup, so leaving it in is harmless. Adding it now just won't change anything in Google Search.

What WebSite markup still does: your site name

Google's site names documentation says: "WebSite structured data is most important, if you want to specify a preference." It requires name and url, recommends alternateName, and the markup "must be on the home page". Site names show on both mobile and desktop.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebSite",
  "name": "Example",
  "alternateName": ["EX", "Example Co"],
  "url": "https://example.com/"
}
</script>

alternateName is the part people skip, and it's the useful one if your brand is spelled several ways. Our WebSite node lists "Devmarde" and "Dev Mar De" as alternates for "DevMarDe". We added them because an unrelated personal account with the same handle was outranking us when people typed the name in lowercase.

How to set it up on your platform

• WordPress with Yoast SEO: Yoast outputs a WebSite node on every page. Its documented example still includes a SearchAction, which is harmless. The name comes from your site settings, so make sure it's the name you want in Search.
• Shopify: the Dawn theme outputs WebSite with a SearchAction on the homepage. Your store name in settings becomes the name.
• Wix: Wix's own help page still describes the search box as a benefit. That's out of date. Add or edit markup under the page's Advanced SEO › Structured Data Markup.
• Squarespace: Squarespace adds Website markup automatically and you can't edit it. Keep the site title in settings correct.
• Next.js: put the WebSite JSON-LD in a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag on the homepage, or in the root layout.

Common mistakes

• Putting the WebSite node only on inner pages. Google's site name rule says it "must be on the home page".
• A name that doesn't match what's on the site. Use the name in your logo and page titles.
• Adding a SearchAction for a search page that doesn't exist. If you keep the markup, the URL template should still work.

Sources

• Google Search Central blog, Farewell, sitelinks search box, 21 October 2024.
• Google Search Central, documentation updates (29 November 2024 entry), checked 3 October 2026.
• Google Search Central, Site names in Google Search (updated 10 December 2025).
• Yoast, Schema output; Shopify, Dawn theme; Squarespace, Structured data.