As part of the structured data specific to COVID-19 announcements that we covered the other day, Google has launched a new beta tool for posting an announcement to your search results listing using Google Search Console.
Hat tip to @tldrMarketing:
Google Has a BETA COVID-19 Announcement Submission Tool Search Consolehttps://t.co/Q23GTYjEr3 cc: @rustybrick @glenngabe @martinibuster pic.twitter.com/DyD3BWWoC4
— tl;dr Marketing (@tldrMarketing) April 3, 2020
Here is a screen shot of the tool that you can find over here:
And here is the form:
This is for a limited set of sites, where Google is providing additional support in search for these official health organizations. Google wrote
Government agencies and official health organizations can submit an important COVID-19 announcement on their site, particularly if they are unable to use structured data. This includes the closure of facilities, rescheduling of events, and new availability of medical facilities (for example, testing centers). Google Search uses this information to better understand the content on your web page and show the important announcement to relevant people alongside your web page result.
Limitations of the tool: This is a beta version. We're currently developing the tool, and you may not see results in Google Search right away.
- The tool requires that announcements expire within 1 month of posting, so this method is only for short-lived announcements.
- If you don't set an expiration date, your announcement will default to expire 7 days from the time the announcement was posted.
- The tool is focused on health and government organizations; it doesn't support news articles.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
