{"id":1793,"slug":"rule-one-indexable-page-per-record","title":"R3 — One indexable page per record (distinct URL per item / variant) — per Google's merchant-listing guidance","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","dev","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","information-architecture","structured-data-mechanics","rich-results-eligibility"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Every record in a structured catalogue gets its own distinct, crawlable URL — one page per item, or per variant where variants differ on a queryable attribute. Lumping multiple records onto a single \"products page\" disqualifies them from product rich results and forfeits the per-record findability and AI-citation surface.\n\n**Why:** Direct primary-source warrant from Google: \"Product rich results only support pages that focus on a single product (or multiple variants of the same product)... This includes product variants where each product variant has a distinct URL\" ([[google-merchant-listing-distinct-url-per-variant]]). schema.org ItemList / ListItem / Product types ([[schema-org-itemlist-listitem-product-types]]) assume each list item carries its own URL. The mechanism generalises beyond products — any record worth filtering on is a record worth its own findable URL ([[extractability-prose-vs-records-mechanism]]).\n\n**How to apply:**\n- Default catalogue architecture: list page + detail page per record. Do not crash records together into \"category pages with everything inline.\"\n- Where variants differ on a queryable attribute, each variant gets its own URL.\n- The same discipline supports AI-citation eligibility ([[ai-citation-eligibility-via-structured-records]]) — extractable records are more cite-able than locked PDFs/images ([[uspto-patent-structured-vs-unstructured-searchable-by-data-type]]).","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"uspto-patent-structured-vs-unstructured-searchable-by-data-type","title":"USPTO Patent 8,700,594 — structured data is \"searchable by data type\"; unstructured data (bitmaps, audio, text docs) is not","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"extractability-prose-vs-records-mechanism","title":"Mechanism summary — structured catalogues expose attributes as data; prose/PDF/images lock them in a format no filter can reach","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"schema-org-itemlist-listitem-product-types","title":"schema.org — ItemList / ListItem / Product / Offer types exist precisely to mark up individual records and lists as machine-readable structured data","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"google-structured-data-mechanism-recipe-example","title":"Google Search Central — structured data labels each individual element so users can search by ingredient, calorie count, cook time","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"google-merchant-listing-distinct-url-per-variant","title":"Google Search Central — product rich results require \"a distinct URL\" per product (or per variant); confirms one findable page per record","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"ai-citation-eligibility-via-structured-records","title":"AI-citation eligibility via structured records — DIRECTIONAL; vendor-blog driven, Google's own position is \"not a direct ranking factor\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"research-brief-website-as-working-surface-june-2026","title":"Research brief: the website as a working surface of the business — four capabilities, AI-citation decoupling, freshness as a real signal (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-searchable-structured-catalogue-working-tool-june-2026","title":"Research brief: the searchable, structured catalogue as a working tool — when records-not-prose pays off (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"google-merchant-listing-distinct-url-per-variant","title":"Google Search Central — product rich results require \"a distinct URL\" per product (or per variant); confirms one findable page per record","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"schema-org-itemlist-listitem-product-types","title":"schema.org — ItemList / ListItem / Product / Offer types exist precisely to mark up individual records and lists as machine-readable structured data","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"google-structured-data-mechanism-recipe-example","title":"Google Search Central — structured data labels each individual element so users can search by ingredient, calorie count, cook time","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:12.741Z","updated_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:12.741Z"}