Google Search Console’s rich results report may now show you more warnings for event structured data markup if the event is missing a location. The search company posted this update here, stating “Google will start enforcing location requirements for events.”
The notice. Here is what Google posted:
Google will start enforcing location requirements for events. For events marked as virtual only (
eventAttendanceMode=OnlineEventAttendanceMode), providing any physical locations will trigger a warning. For any event with a physical address, the address must be of type Place, not PostalAddress, or it will be an error. Therefore you might see an increase in errors and warnings in Event items on your site.
Location matters. Google clearly is saying that it wants you to fill in the location of the event so it can properly show those events in the search results. If the event is virtual, you can define the event location as being online with the “eventAttendanceMode = OnlineEventAttendanceMode” reference. If it is a in-person event, you should add the physical address.
What is event rich results. Event rich results is when Google Search uses your structured data on your event pages and shows richer search result snippets in its search results. Google said this can provide More interactive result by showing your logo, description of the event, and also increased chances of discovery and conversion by improving click through rates.
This is what these results can look like:
Why we care. If you use event schema on your pages, you may soon notice a spike in the warnings the rich results report displays in Google Search Console. All you need to do is add the location data to your schema and validate the error in Search Console.
You can learn more about troubleshooting these errors in Search Console or over here.
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About The Author
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry’s personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.