NEW: COVID-19 Special Announcement Widget

A new COVID-19 Special Announcement Widget has been added to the COVID-19 Community Toolbox.

The widget enables organisations to tell search engines that their websites have important information regarding the pandemic. This is particularly important for Local Authorities and Universities communicating critical messages.

Search engines can then display that content prominently in search results making it easier for users to read and get important information quickly.  

An example of this in use: if I was to search for 'grants' in relation to my council, the first search result might be 'Find Out About Private Sector Housing'.  However, if my council used this widget to promote 'COVID-19 - Support for Businesses', which more people are likely to be looking for right now, then they'd be able to find it quickly under the prominently placed 'Help and Information' section in the search results.

The capability comes courtesy of Schema.org, which creates, maintains and promotes schemas for structured data on the internet and enables search engines to better understand websites.  The widget makes it easy to publish important information that meets the required standard. 

Announcements can be created that include information relating to:

• Lockdown directives
• Closure notices
• Quarantine guidelines
• Travel restrictions
• Opening of a testing centre
• Cancellation or changes to planned events
• Revision of shopping hours or other shopping restrictions
• Disease spread maps and statistics

The widget doesn’t need to be customised, it can be downloaded as a Widget Zip file, uploaded to Jadu Central through the Widget Manager and then added to relevant website homepages and landing pages.

Here is a short video on the widget: