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Monday, November 27, 2017
Lately we've been receiving feedback from users seeing non-events like coupons or vouchers showing
up in search results where "events" snippets appear. This is really confusing for users and also
against our guidelines, where we have added
additional clarification.
So, what's the problem?
We've seen a number of publishers in the coupons/vouchers space use the "event" markup to
describe their offers. And as much as using a discount voucher can be a very special thing, that
doesn't make coupons or vouchers events or "saleEvents". Using
Event markup to describe something that
is not an event creates a bad user experience, by triggering a rich result for something that will
happen at a particular time, despite no actual event being present.
Here are some examples to illustrate the issue:
Since this creates a misleading user experience, we may take manual action on such cases. In case
your website is affected by such a manual action, you will find a notification in your Search
Console account. If a manual action is taken, it can result in structured data markup for the
whole site not being used for search results.
While we're specifically highlighting coupons and vouchers in this blogpost, this applies to all
other non-event items being annotated with "event" markup as well—or, really, for applying
a type of markup to something other than the type of thing it is meant to describe.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eUsing Event markup for coupons, vouchers, or other non-events is against Google's guidelines and creates a misleading user experience for searchers.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003ePublishers are misusing Event markup to highlight coupons and vouchers, even though these do not qualify as actual events or saleEvents.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis misuse can lead to manual actions by Google, potentially impacting the visibility of structured data markup for the entire website in search results.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis issue extends beyond coupons and vouchers to any misuse of structured data markup where the content does not align with the intended type.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003ePublishers should refer to Google's developer documentation and the Webmaster Forum for further guidance and clarification on using structured data correctly.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Publishers using \"event\" markup for non-events, such as coupons or vouchers, cause user confusion and violate guidelines. This misuse triggers rich results for non-existent events, degrading user experience. Manual action may be taken against affected websites, potentially disabling all structured data markup for the site in search results. This issue extends beyond coupons to any misapplication of markup types. Further guidance is available in the developer documentation and Webmaster Forum.\n"],null,["# A reminder about \"event\" markup\n\nMonday, November 27, 2017\n\n\nLately we've been receiving feedback from users seeing non-events like coupons or vouchers showing\nup in search results where \"events\" snippets appear. This is really confusing for users and also\nagainst our guidelines, where we have added\n[additional clarification](/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event).\n\nSo, what's the problem?\n\n\nWe've seen a number of publishers in the coupons/vouchers space use the \"event\" markup to\ndescribe their offers. And as much as using a discount voucher can be a very special thing, that\ndoesn't make coupons or vouchers events or \"saleEvents\". Using\n[Event markup](/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event) to describe something that\nis not an event creates a bad user experience, by triggering a rich result for something that will\nhappen at a particular time, despite no actual event being present.\n\nHere are some examples to illustrate the issue:\n\n\nSince this creates a misleading user experience, we may take manual action on such cases. In case\nyour website is affected by such a manual action, you will find a notification in your Search\nConsole account. If a manual action is taken, it can result in structured data markup for the\nwhole site not being used for search results.\n\n\nWhile we're specifically highlighting coupons and vouchers in this blogpost, this applies to all\nother non-event items being annotated with \"event\" markup as well---or, really, for applying\na type of markup to something other than the type of thing it is meant to describe.\n\n\nFor more information, please visit our\n[developer documentation](/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event) or stop by our\n[Webmaster Forum](https://support.google.com/webmasters/go/community)\nin case you have additional questions!\n\nPosted by Sven Naumann, Trust and Safety Search Team"]]
