ItemList carousel markup put a food blog into the host carousel — 44% of category traffic shifted to it

ItemList carousel markup put a food blog into the host carousel — 44% of category traffic shifted to it
A recipe site had individual Recipe schema but no ItemList wrapper on its category pages, so it never qualified for Google's host carousel. They added ItemList with ordered itemListElement entries pointing to each recipe URL.
— Category pages entered the recipe carousel within 18 days
— 44% of category-search clicks came through the carousel slot
What it means for you: individual rich results and carousel eligibility are two different markup jobs — you need ItemList on the collection page to qualify. Most sites only do the detail pages. Watch this: carousels concentrate clicks on a few slots; ItemList is your ticket in.