In keeping with a subtle approach, Google has decided to sunset the COVID-structured data support for Home Activities rich results introduced in August 2020. At the time of the launch, the world was going through lockdowns, social distancing, and all the chaos of a pandemic, and this feature was very helpful for many people. It allowed users to find online events, live streams, and virtual activity and given the situation, provided even a bit of normalcy.
This change wasn’t exactly an announcement, Google updated the changelog on the Search Central documentation, and their documentation now simply has a redirect link with some notes clarifying that Home Activities rich results are being removed. It is essentially the transition is basically a quiet whisper not making very much noise about something that was so important to so many people.
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A Brief Yet Impactful Lifeline for Online Events
The introduction of Home Activities rich results was revolutionary. For organizations and creators that pivoted to the virtual space, this was a way to flaunt livestreams, pre-recorded content, and other virtual activities directly within Google Search. For users, this was a way to find things to do, safely at home – whether it was joining a live concert, meeting friends in a virtual gym class, or simply finding something fun to do while stuck at home.
When those rich snippets appeared in search results with information like viewing instructions, activity descriptions, and registration links, it made it seem like the world wasn’t so disconnected after all. Even when we were apart, it was a way to remind us that we could still engage, see a event, and stay entertained.
The End of an Era... and What’s Next?
With the discontinuation of Home Activities, we have a bittersweet reminder that the online world has changed again. Home Activities filled a very niche need at a very niche time and now that life is gradually returning to some sort of normalcy, it is hardly surprising that Google is retiring the service. However, if you happen to be one of many who found value in Home Activities as a way to promote your online events with structured data, you may feel nostalgic for what it was.
But not all is lost — there is good news. As part of the Home Activities announcement, Google is recommending that event organizers and content publishers consider Event or Video structured data to make sure that their content remains discoverable in search. These structured data types have been used for a long time to help events gain visibility, and they more closely align with the state of the web today.
The good news is if you are using Home Activities structured data, Google has told us that you do not need to rush to remove it from your website. You will not receive any punitive action for keeping it. However, I would recommend at least updating your structured data to align with the state of the web today.
A Shift in the Digital Landscape
This change, in many ways, is indicative of a wider change we have seen in digital spaces. Now, as we slowly begin to move out of the pandemic and settle back into some form of normalcy, Google is ready to retire some of the temporary features that were ever-so-important to keep us on track during the lockdown. The Home Activities feature was made solely due to a crisis in the world – and it’s seemingly gently recognizing its time to exit as we start to step toward a slightly more hopeful time.
It’s a reflective take on how much we have all had to adapt over the course of a few years, and perhaps for those of us who spent hours each week exploring new hobbies, participating in events, or simply trying to make the most out of the weird world we found ourselves in, we might remember this change for a while to come.
Moving Forward: What’s Next?
So what do you do now that you’ve been relying on Home Activities rich results? You are going to want to update your structured data to use Event or Video structured data, so that it can continue to be discoverable and found by users. The online events and digital content space is constantly changing and evolving, and by being ahead of the game this kind of change shouldn’t cause you to fall behind.
The end of Home Activities is a major change, but it also opens up many new areas for creativity and innovation in the virtual space. The digital landscape is always changing — and so too will the ways we connect, engage, and discover the things that are most important to us.
