priceRange property is ambiguous

[pierrefar]

Hello

The property schema.org/priceRange is ambiguous because it specifies text for a currency range. To use an example from the current docs, schema.org/Hotel includes this property with this example:

Room rates: <span itemprop="priceRange">$100 - $240</span>
The $ sign is ambiguous: Is it USD, CAD, AUD or...?

The schema.org/price property and the accompanying example are much better:

<span itemprop="priceCurrency" content="USD">$</span> <span itemprop="price" content="1000.00">1,000.00</span>

Can priceRange be update to be schema.org/PriceSpecification, which does include minPrice and maxPrice as numbers, as well as the the priceCurrency property that removes the ambiguity?

[mfhepp]

You can simply use the price property with a range modeled as a PriceSpecification as it stands. priceRange is from the time before the more advanced price modeling from GoodRelations has been added to schema.org.

---

martin hepp
www: http://www.heppnetz.de/
email: mhepp@computer.org

Am 15.08.2016 um 16:29 schrieb Pierre Far notifications@github.com:

Hello

The property schema.org/priceRange is ambiguous because it specifies text for a currency range. To use an example from the current docs, schema.org/Hotel includes this property with this example:

Room rates: $100 - $240

The $ sign is ambiguous: Is it USD, CAD, AUD or...?

The schema.org/price property and the accompanying example are much better:

$
1,000.00

Can priceRange be update to be schema.org/PriceSpecification, which does include minPrice and maxPrice as numbers, as well as the the priceCurrency property that removes the ambiguity?

—
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[pierrefar]

Ah gotcha, thanks. Maybe then stop using priceRange in the examples? The advanced price modeling is not that difficult and should really be the one standard way used in the examples IMO.

[danbri]

+1 for retiring this in favour of a single idiom

[jvandriel]

A big thumbs up from me for this, but eh...

To prevent having to spam a certain product forum after schema.org has made the changes, you might want to inform the sponsors upfront as there's currently not one that supports schema.org/PriceSpecification when it comes to rich snippets (and Google does support priceRange, don't know about Bing, Yandex or Yahoo though).

[danbri]

@jvandriel I'm sure the product forum(s) would be delighted to hear from you....

[kuratowsky]

In the offer specification the attribute price has an interesting description:

Usage guidelines:
Use the priceCurrency property (with ISO 4217 codes e.g. "USD") instead of including ambiguous symbols such as '$' in the value.
Use '.' (Unicode 'FULL STOP' (U+002E)) rather than ',' to indicate a decimal point. Avoid using these symbols as a readability separator.
Note that both RDFa and Microdata syntax allow the use of a "content=" attribute for publishing simple machine-readable values alongside more human-friendly formatting.
Use values from 0123456789 (Unicode 'DIGIT ZERO' (U+0030) to 'DIGIT NINE' (U+0039)) rather than superficially similiar Unicode symbols.

Maybe can help you
Cheers

[jc275]

Google does support priceRange

@jvandriel It has (very recently, I think) started showing up as 'recommended' in the structured data testing tool, triggering a warning. I expect a lot of localBusiness owners will suddenly be wondering how many dollar signs to award to their software consultancy, law firm, vehicle hire place, etc.

[joepagan]

I too would like to know, I presume it wouldn't matter if you use a $ or your local currency (providing a location is set).

Does a single $ represent 0-9 ?
$$ = 10-99 ?
$$$ = 100-999 ?

This thread contradicts that almost suggesting it's like a 5 star rating but for cost: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40005100/what-is-the-pricerange-parameter-for-google-structured-data-reviews

Can we get some clarification on exactly what is necessary?

[Download]

A bit of clarification would go a long way. No need to change anything, just for someone in the know of how Google, ahem I mean 'the sponsors', actually interpret this value, to add some explanation in the docs.

I would guess based on the example that it's a 5 dollar-signs rating system, like star ratings, but with dollars. So currency would not matter. But without docs it's guesswork.

[joepagan]

@danbri Do you have any idea on this, or, can you suggest somewhere/someone who would be able to provide answers? I've asked in WM forums, nobody has a clue.

[gajus]

Lets ping some top contributors on this issue: @danbri, @RichardWallis, @vholland, @mfhepp, @twamarc, @unor.

As suggested earlier, Google JSON-LD testing tools is advising to include this field, e.g. https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/#url=https%3A%2F%2Fgo2cinema.com%2Fvenues%2Fvue-westwood-cross-1001132

However, the directions, in terms of whats the data format is, are lacking.

How do I represent the cinema venue prices?

• As others suggested, the $$ digit representation does not make sense. All cinema venues will be either $ or $$.
• A range, such as $8-$16, does not make sense either, since currency is unknown.

[vickitardif]

I can't go into detail about how various consumers use this value, but for the reasons stated above, priceRange is of limited value.

Authors tend to interpret values like $$ based on their own domains, so a hotel with priceRange $$$ is not the same as a restaurant with priceRange $$$, or a hair salon with priceRange $$$.

If folks are interested in more precise schema, there were some suggestions earlier in the thread.

[Aaranged]

Regardless of how much the priceRange specification and description may benefit from improvement, the core issue here is Google's warning message to webmasters, so it's contingent on them to clarify what their data expectations are here.

So I'd limit the ping to the Googlers, and limit the plea to "please urge your colleagues to address this long-standing ambiguity." :)

Two pertinent URL references here.

The longest-standing (or at least notable) thread in the Google Product Forums on priceRange (22 Dec. 2016).

priceRange for LocalBusiness, what is the preferred way to add this? - Google Product Forums
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/webmasters/ySYoZw0VRQA

For the record, the very knowledgeable Grace Massa Langlois provided this advice:
I don't think marking up dollar symbols is what Google had in mind. The requirement is text therefore using the symbols is fine but you should markup the actual price range, for example, $20 to $80.

But subsequent code provided by Google in their Reviews Data Type specification - AFAIK the only reference to "priceRange" in all the Google Developers documentation (and the second URL I'll note) - where one will find in the example code for "Critic review examples > Business reviews > Embedded review", which suggests that "marking up dollar symbols" is precisely what Google is expecting. :)

"priceRange": "$$$",

[vickitardif]

Questions/comments about how Google interprets markup should be taken to the Google developer forums.

[thadguidry]

ALL - looks like most of the votes are in from my cursory glance that we deprecate priceRange.
So going forward we'll promote the use of the clearer PriceSpecification.

I am deprecating usage of priceRange and advising everyone I come in contact.
@Aaranged @jvandriel I'd say we go ahead and start voicing this. The SDTT will catchup with our community power as it has in the past.

@danbri Are you OK with deprecating for next release ? Given the community has spoken and likes the idea of one idiom with PriceSpecification