Google now supports new types of event schemes as the events go virtual, get canceled or postponed due to coronavirus outbreak. Few optional properties have been added one of them being ‘event status’ property which allows site owners to display if an event has been rescheduled, delayed or canceled.

How To Use EventStatus

EventStatus property allows Google to display searchers the current status of an event.

• Postponed event: Put the official date in the start date of the event till you know when the event will happen and update the event status to Event Postponed.
• Canceled event: Keep the original date in the start date of the event and set the event status property to Event Canceled.
• Rescheduled event: Update the end Date and the Start Date with the new dates. Also, you can mark the event status field as Event Rescheduled and the previous start date.
• In-person event modified to online-only: Update the event status field to display the change with Event Moved Online.

Recommendation: Google Is Building A Nationwide Corona Virus Info Site

Additional Information For Virtual Events

Google further assists with guidelines, particularly for virtual events. If your event is organized online make use of these following properties.

• Put the event attendance mode property to online event attendance mode.
• Put the location to the virtual location type.

Inform Google About The Event Changes

It is advised to let Google know about the structured data changes so that it can indicate the correct updated information in search results. An easy way to do this is by allowing sitemaps automatically available via your server.