Discourse Rich JSON-LD Microdata
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Summary | Enhances Discourse’s standard meta tags with a comprehensive, coordinated set of Open Graph, Twitter Cards, and Schema.org JSON-LD markup, resulting in superior SEO performance, richer social media sharing experiences, and improved AI/LLM discoverability |
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Repository Link | GitHub - kaktaknet/discourse-rich-json-ld-microdata: 🏆 Discourse Rich JSON-LD Microdata Plugin. Comprehensive, coordinated Open Graph and Schema.org JSON-LD microdata for 200% SEO and LLM coverage |
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Install Guide | How to install plugins in Discourse |
What You Get
Transform how your forum appears in search results, social media, and AI-powered assistants. This plugin generates professional-grade structured data that Google, Yandex, social platforms, and Large Language Models understand perfectly.
For detailed documentation, see README.md
For technical details and development, see CONTRIBUTING.md
For usage examples and troubleshooting, see USAGE.md
Rich Search Results Examples
Before: Plain text snippet in Google
After: Rich snippet with ratings, answer counts, author, and publish date
Before: Generic link preview in social media
After: Eye-catching card with image, description, and branding
Learn more about Rich Results from Google Search Central
Key Features
1. Complete Schema.org Coverage
- QAPage schema for topics with full Q&A hierarchy
- Answer ratings and solved status support
- CollectionPage for categories with subcategories
- ProfilePage for user profiles with expertise indicators
- BreadcrumbList for navigation paths
- WebSite global schema with search action
2. Coordinated Social Media Tags
- Open Graph (Facebook, LinkedIn, Discord)
- Twitter Cards (summary_large_image)
- All generated from single source of truth - no conflicts
- Automatic cleanup of Discourse’s default tags
3. AI & LLM Optimized
- Complete entity relationships using Schema.org
@idreferences - Full context understanding (topics → categories → answers → comments)
- Author expertise metadata
- ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI assistants get perfect context
4. Full Internationalization 
- 100% English and Russian translations included
- Automatic language detection (user → site → browser → fallback)
- All Schema.org descriptions localized
- Easy to add more languages
5. Smart Performance
- Redis caching with 1-hour TTL (configurable)
- Automatic cache invalidation on content changes
- < 5ms for cached pages
- ~50ms for fresh generation
6. Zero Maintenance
- Automatic injection for both browser and crawler views
- Works for topics, categories, and user profiles
- Graceful error handling - never breaks your site
- Comprehensive logging for debugging
Benefits for Your Forum
Better Search Rankings
- Rich snippets in Google increase click-through rates by 30-50%
- Knowledge Graph panels for expert users
- Featured in “People also ask” sections
- Breadcrumbs in search results improve navigation
Professional Social Sharing
- Eye-catching cards when shared on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Proper branding with logos and descriptions
- Increased engagement and click-through rates
- Works across 40+ social platforms
AI Assistant Ready
- Your content appears accurately in ChatGPT and Claude responses
- Proper attribution with links back to your forum
- Complete context prevents AI hallucinations
- Future-proof for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
International Audience
- Automatic language detection
- Localized descriptions for better relevance
- URL encoding handles Cyrillic and special characters
- Easy expansion to more languages
Installation
Step 1: Install via Git
cd /var/discourse
git clone https://github.com/kaktaknet/discourse-rich-json-ld-microdata.git plugins/discourse-rich-json-ld-microdata
./launcher rebuild app
Step 2: Enable in Admin
Navigate to Admin → Settings → Plugins → Rich Microdata
Set rich_microdata_enabled to true (enabled by default)
Step 3: Configure (Optional)
All settings work great out-of-the-box, but you can customize:
- Cache duration (default: 1 hour)
- Max answers to include (default: 10)
- Twitter @handle for your site
- Default Open Graph image URL
- Enable/disable specific schemas
Step 4: Verify
Test your markup:
Configuration
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
rich_microdata_enabled |
true |
Master switch for the plugin |
rich_microdata_cache_ttl |
3600 |
Cache duration in seconds |
rich_microdata_max_answers |
10 |
Max answers in QAPage schema |
rich_microdata_include_user_stats |
true |
Include user statistics |
rich_microdata_enable_breadcrumbs |
true |
Add BreadcrumbList schema |
rich_microdata_enable_website_schema |
true |
Include WebSite schema |
rich_microdata_twitter_site |
"" |
Your Twitter @username |
rich_microdata_og_image_default |
"" |
Fallback OG image URL |
rich_microdata_debug_mode |
false |
Enable debug logging |
Technical Details
Architecture:
- Three-layer pattern: DataExtractor → Builders → Coordinator
- Single source of truth prevents data conflicts
- Separate rendering for
<head>tags and<body>content - Works with both
application.html.erbandcrawler.html.erblayouts
Standards Compliance:
- Schema.org JSON-LD specification
- Open Graph Protocol
- Twitter Cards markup
- RFC 3986 (URL encoding for international characters)
Security:
- Guardian permission checks
- Private content automatically excluded
- SQL-level security filtering
- Safe fallbacks for missing data
Compatibility:
- Discourse 2.7.0+
- Ruby 2.7+
- Tested on Discourse 3.6.0.beta3
Real-World Examples
Topic Page Markup:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "QAPage",
"name": "How to optimize database queries?",
"mainEntity": {
"@type": "Question",
"name": "How to optimize database queries?",
"text": "I'm experiencing slow queries...",
"answerCount": 5,
"upvoteCount": 12,
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "You should add indexes on...",
"upvoteCount": 8,
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "John Doe",
"url": "https://forum.example.com/u/john"
}
}
}
}
Category Page Markup:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "CollectionPage",
"name": "Database Optimization",
"description": "Tips and tricks for faster queries",
"numberOfItems": 245,
"hasPart": [...]
}
See USAGE.md for complete examples.
Use Cases
Technical Forums:
Developers find your solutions through Google’s featured snippets and AI coding assistants, with proper code context preserved.
Support Communities:
Search engines display your answers with ratings and solved status, driving qualified traffic to your best content.
Discussion Forums:
Social media sharing looks professional with custom cards, increasing engagement and reducing bounce rates.
International Communities:
Automatic language detection ensures users see content in their preferred language, improving accessibility.
Maintenance
Zero-maintenance operation:
- Automatic cache refresh on content updates
- Self-healing on errors (never breaks your site)
- Comprehensive logging for monitoring
- Optional debug mode for troubleshooting
Cache management (optional):
# Rails console
MetaGeneratorService.clear_all_cache
MetaGeneratorService.cache_stats
Troubleshooting
Meta tags not appearing:
- Verify plugin enabled in Admin → Plugins
- Check logs:
./launcher logs app | grep RichMicrodata - Clear cache:
MetaGeneratorService.clear_all_cache
Rich snippets not showing in Google:
- Google takes 2-4 weeks to re-crawl and update
- Test with Rich Results Test
- Check for validation errors in Search Console
See USAGE.md for detailed troubleshooting.
Performance Metrics
- Cache hit rate: 95%+ for typical forums
- Response time: < 5ms cached, ~50ms fresh
- Memory overhead: Minimal (uses Redis)
- Database load: Negligible (cached 1 hour)
Roadmap
Current version: 2.0.0
Complete Open Graph and Twitter Cards
Full Schema.org JSON-LD support
EN/RU localization
URL encoding for international characters
Planned:
- Additional language packs (ES, DE, FR)
- Video schema support
- Event schema for announcements
- Product schema for marketplace categories
Support
- Issues: GitHub Issues
- Documentation: README.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
License
MIT License - Free and open-source software
Credits
- Standards: Schema.org, Open Graph Protocol, Twitter Cards
- Platform: Discourse
- Community: All contributors and users
Optional: Telegram Instant View
The repository includes example template rules in TELEGRAM_IV_RULES.txt for creating beautiful Telegram Instant View templates. Use these rules at instantview.telegram.org to provide fast-loading, distraction-free reading experience for users who share your forum content in Telegram.
Transform your forum’s visibility today. Install in under 5 minutes, see results in Google within 2-4 weeks. 