Why NOW is the Time to add Structured Data to your Events

If you were to grab your cell phone and type the word events into your Google search you will quickly see that things have changed. Google is now, not only including a comprehensive list of event search options, but they're also serving up personalized events results based on your location with tappable filtering options.

When you dig into Google's Developer Guidelines for getting your events to show up in these updated mobile results the message is clear - Mark up your events with JSON-LD Schema.org/Events Structured Data Code.

Per Google, here are the general structured data quality and technical guidelines for your event to be eligible to be shown in Search results.

• The target page must contain structured data items from event types on schema.org.

• Each event MUST have a unique URL (a leaf page) and markup on that URL.

• Each event must accurately describe the event name, start date, and location.

• Avoid marking non-events as events:

  1. Don't promote non-event products or services such as "Trip package: San Diego/LA, 7 nights" as events.

  2. Don't add short-term discounts or purchase opportunities, such as: "Concert — buy your tickets now," or "Concert - 50% off until Saturday".

  3. Don't mark business hours as events, such as: “Adventure park open 8 AM to 5PM”.

• Mark up multi-day events correctly:

  1. If your event or ticket info is for an event that runs over several days, specify both the start and end dates of the event.

  2. If there are several different performances across different days, each with individual tickets, add a separate Event element for each performance.