Published:
Updated:
by Wayne Smith
The about-site description, found in "more information about the site" and the Knowledge Panel, is pulled from the description used on the AboutPage content type. It can also be pulled from the "Google My Business," profile.
Because the "webPage" content type also has a description, for the web page, the site description should use a schema which is not part of the webpage schema ... and be specified in the "hasPart" of the "WebSite" content type ... created by making the json data into an array, or by using more than one type="application/ld+json" script tags.
The "hasPart" property of the "WebSite" schema is also a signal for the site's navigation links ... the home page itself can also be the AboutPage. A separate about page is likely the best choice for most sites.
For posting the about site on the home page ... using microdata format is likely the best choice when an about page is not desired.
The content types for hasPart can include a considerable amount of entity information. Copyright holder and licensing information which is of interest to Google for how they build their search index.
The location of content type website on a website
The content type website schema should be located in the home page on the root directory. Google specifies this in their schema documentation for the site name, but do not document all uses of the content type.
In some cases, a site name shown for a home page may not have propagated to appear for other pages on that site. For example, example.com might be showing a site name that's different from example.com/internal-page.html.
We're actively working to address this. We will update this help page when this issue is resolved. In the meantime, if your home page is showing the site name you prefer, understand that it should also appear for your internal pages eventually.
The site description should appear as readable text on the specified URL for the about page. It is not required to appear on the home page itself.