Special Announcement Schema — Dated Public Notices
SpecialAnnouncement describes a time-sensitive notice from a local organization: a closure, a recall, a schedule change, or an emergency update, with when it was posted, when it ends, and where it applies.
Generate a Special AnnouncementWhat is SpecialAnnouncement structured data?
SpecialAnnouncement is a core schema.org type, a kind of CreativeWork. Schema.org describes it as "a simple date-stamped textual information update with contextualized Web links and other structured data." It was created in 2020 for local updates during the COVID-19 pandemic, from organizations like schools, pharmacies, and government agencies, but nothing in the type limits it to health emergencies.
Use it on a page whose main purpose is a dated notice:
- A store, office, or venue closing temporarily or changing its hours
- A product recall or safety notice
- A school or public service schedule change
- A service outage or emergency update for an area
Google Search status
Google used to show special announcements as a highlighted result in Search. It stopped showing them on July 31, 2025, and removed the documentation in September 2025 as part of simplifying the search results page. Google said the change doesn't affect ranking.
The type itself is unchanged and still valid. Your notice page can rank like any other page, and the markup still gives other search engines, AI assistants, and aggregators a clear, dated, machine-readable version of the notice.
Properties to include
From CreativeWork, which every SpecialAnnouncement inherits:
name: a short headline for the notice.text: the notice itself, matching what the page says.datePosted: when the notice was published. Use a full date and time with a timezone if the timing matters.expires: when the notice stops applying. Leave it out if there's no end date.url: the page with the full notice.about: the thing the notice is about, such as a Product for a recall.spatialCoverage: the area the notice applies to, such as a city, county, or country.
Defined on SpecialAnnouncement:
category: what kind of notice it is, as text or a URL.announcementLocation: the specific business or building the notice is about (a LocalBusiness or CivicStructure).- Link properties that each point to a page with more detail:
newsUpdatesAndGuidelines,schoolClosuresInfo,publicTransportClosuresInfo,travelBans,quarantineGuidelines,gettingTestedInfo,diseasePreventionInfo, anddiseaseSpreadStatistics. Use only the ones that fit your notice. governmentBenefitsInfo: a GovernmentService describing related government help.webFeed: a feed of ongoing updates.
How to build one here
- 01
Write the notice on the page first: headline, what is happening, dates, and where it applies.
- 02
Enter the same headline as name and the notice as text.
- 03
Add datePosted, and expires if the notice has an end date.
- 04
Add announcementLocation for a specific place, or spatialCoverage for an area.
- 05
Link to any detail pages with the matching link properties.
- 06
Copy the JSON-LD into the page and check it in the Schema Markup Validator.
Keep the notice accurate
- Match the page. The name, text, and dates in the markup must be what visitors read.
- Update or remove it when it ends. An expired closure notice that still says "closed" misleads people. Set
expires, and take the notice down or mark it resolved once it no longer applies. - One notice per announcement. If you post several unrelated notices, give each its own page or its own SpecialAnnouncement.
- Don't use it for marketing. A sale or product launch is not a special announcement. Use Offer, Event, or Article markup for those.
Recommended properties
nametextdatePostedexpirescategoryannouncementLocationspatialCoverageurlnewsUpdatesAndGuidelinesabout
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "SpecialAnnouncement",
"name": "Downtown store closed for renovations",
"text": "Our Main Street store is closed from November 3 to November 14 for renovations. Online orders and curbside pickup at our Westside store continue as normal.",
"datePosted": "2026-10-20T09:00:00-04:00",
"expires": "2026-11-15T09:00:00-05:00",
"category": "Temporary closure",
"url": "https://www.example.com/notices/main-street-renovation",
"announcementLocation": {
"@type": "LocalBusiness",
"name": "Example Hardware – Main Street",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "120 Main St",
"addressLocality": "Richmond",
"addressRegion": "VA",
"postalCode": "23219",
"addressCountry": "US"
}
}
}{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "SpecialAnnouncement",
"name": "Recall: Model X200 space heaters sold before September 2026",
"text": "Stop using Model X200 space heaters with serial numbers starting X200-25. A faulty switch can overheat. Contact us for a free replacement.",
"datePosted": "2026-09-28",
"category": "Product recall",
"url": "https://www.example.com/recalls/x200-heater",
"about": {
"@type": "Product",
"name": "Model X200 Space Heater",
"brand": {
"@type": "Brand",
"name": "Example Home"
}
},
"newsUpdatesAndGuidelines": "https://www.example.com/recalls/x200-heater/updates",
"spatialCoverage": {
"@type": "Country",
"name": "United States"
}
}{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "SpecialAnnouncement",
"name": "Schools open two hours late on Friday",
"text": "All county schools open two hours late on Friday, January 15 because of ice on the roads. Buses run two hours behind their usual times.",
"datePosted": "2027-01-14T18:30:00-05:00",
"expires": "2027-01-16T00:00:00-05:00",
"category": "School schedule change",
"schoolClosuresInfo": "https://www.exampleschools.org/weather",
"spatialCoverage": {
"@type": "AdministrativeArea",
"name": "Example County, Virginia"
}
}FAQs
Is SpecialAnnouncement still a valid schema type?ShowHide
Yes. It is a core schema.org type (a kind of CreativeWork). What ended is Google's special search display for it, not the type.
Will Google show my announcement in Search?ShowHide
Not as a special result. Google stopped showing special announcements on July 31, 2025. The page can still rank normally, and the markup still describes the notice for other search engines and AI assistants.
What can I use it for besides COVID-19 updates?ShowHide
Any dated public notice from a local organization: a store or office closure, a product recall, a school schedule change, a service outage, or an emergency update.
Where does the location go?ShowHide
Use announcementLocation for the specific business or building the notice is about. Use spatialCoverage for the wider area it applies to, such as a city or county.