# Article and BlogPosting schema: what Google actually uses > Article structured data earns dates, headlines and bigger images in search, not stars. The properties Google reads, the image and date rules, a full JSON-LD sample and the WordPress plugin settings. Updated 2026-09-25 · Structured data · HTML version: https://getreport.app/guides/article-and-blogposting-schema Article structured data is the most common JSON-LD on the web and the most misunderstood. It does not earn star ratings, it does not make a post rank, and Google reads only a handful of its forty-odd properties. What it does do is tell Google the headline, the author, the dates and the image to use when it shows the post, on its own or in Top Stories, and that is worth the ten minutes it takes to get right. This guide covers the three types, the properties that matter, a complete sample and the plugin settings that produce it in WordPress. ## Quick answer - Use the most specific type: `BlogPosting` for blog posts, `NewsArticle` for news, `Article` for anything else. Google treats all three the same. - Provide `headline`, `image`, `datePublished`, `dateModified` and `author` (a `Person` or `Organization` with `name` and `url`). - Images at least 1200 px wide, in 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 if you can; dates in ISO 8601 with a timezone. - Connect the article to your site's Organization with `@id` instead of repeating it. - The [schema validator](https://getreport.app/tools/schema-validator) lists the properties the report requires and which entity is missing them. ## Why Article schema matters Google uses Article markup to understand the page's main entity and to fill two features. The first is the article rich result: the listing may show the headline, a larger image and the publish date. The second is Top Stories and the news and article carousels on mobile, which draw from the same markup (and, for Top Stories, also require the site to meet Google's news content policies). Neither is guaranteed, but pages without the markup rarely appear in the carousels at all. What it does not do: there is no rating rich result for articles, so review stars in Article markup are ignored; the markup is not a ranking signal; and the date it declares is a hint that Google checks against the visible date on the page. Where the markup pays back is consistency. A site whose posts all carry the same author entity, the same publisher `@id` and correct dates gives Google a clean picture of who publishes what and when, which is the basis for showing the right date in results and attributing the content to the right author. ## The three types `Article` is the parent; `NewsArticle` and `BlogPosting` are subtypes, and there are more below them (`TechArticle`, `ScholarlyArticle`, `Report`). Google's documentation lists the three main ones and asks for the most specific one that fits. The choice changes nothing in the rich result today; it is about being accurate, and about future features that may use it. Pick one rule per content type and apply it site-wide: posts are `BlogPosting`, press releases and news are `NewsArticle`, documentation and guides are `TechArticle` or `Article`. ## How getReport checks it > **Free tool:** [Schema markup validator](https://getreport.app/tools/schema-validator): Find and validate JSON-LD and microdata on any page: parse errors, missing required properties, rich-result eligibility and duplicate entities, with the fix for each. The validator reads every JSON-LD block on the page, lists the root entities and checks each known type against a table of required properties. For `Article`, `NewsArticle`, `BlogPosting` (and `TechArticle`, `ScholarlyArticle` and `Report`, which use the same table) the four properties are `headline`, `author`, `datePublished` and `image`: ![The required properties finding opened: the title says to add headline to Article structured data and four more, the list names Article: headline, author, datePublished, image and a BreadcrumbList item, then the fix](https://getreport.app/guides/img/article-and-blogposting-schema/missing-props.webp "One line per entity type and property; the same page's breadcrumb list is checked in the same finding.") > **Check: Required schema properties.** Google shows a rich result (price, stars, breadcrumb, event date) only when the entity carries the properties it requires. Without them the block is valid but earns nothing in search. > > 1. Open the technical detail for the full list, one line per entity type and property. > 2. Add each property to the JSON-LD block. In WooCommerce, Yoast or Rank Math this usually means filling in the price, image or author field on the item itself. The table is stricter than Google's documentation, which calls these properties recommended rather than required, because without them the rich result has nothing to show. The report checks presence, not quality: `author` as a bare string passes here, an image of 300 px passes, and `dateModified` is not checked at all. Those are the rules in the steps below. > **Check: Rich result eligibility.** Rich results (price, stars, breadcrumbs or event dates under your listing) make it bigger and earn more clicks than a plain blue link. An entity with missing required properties does not qualify. > > 1. Fix the properties listed under "required properties missing" first; eligibility follows automatically. > 2. Test the page with Google's Rich Results Test after the change. Eligibility follows from the first finding: an Article with all four properties is listed as eligible, one without any of them is not. It means "complete against the documented properties", not "Google will show it"; that part depends on the page, the site and the query. > **Check: Structured data found.** Structured data lets Google show rich results such as prices, review stars, breadcrumbs and event dates. Without it, your listing is plain text. > > 1. Add a JSON-LD script describing the page's main entity (Organization, Product, Article…). > 2. Most CMS SEO plugins generate this for you; check their schema settings. The starting point for a page with no markup at all. An SEO plugin usually adds Article for posts on its own; a hand-built theme or a static site generator often ships nothing, in which case the sample below is the whole job. ## Step by step ### 1. Write the headline as the post title, not the site name `headline` is the article's title. The most common mistake is a template that puts the site name, or "Title | Site name", into it, so every post has the same headline or a decorated one. Keep it under about 110 characters; Google's documentation says long headlines may be truncated, and 110 has been the working limit since the Rich Results Test used to warn at it. ### 2. Use an image Google can show The image rules are the ones that bite most often: - At least 1200 px wide. A 600 px featured image is valid markup and useless for the rich result. - Crawlable: not blocked in robots.txt, not behind a login, served with a normal `Content-Type`. - Belonging to the article, not the site logo or a generic banner. - Ideally three crops in 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1, as an array of URLs, so Google can pick the one that fits the layout. ```json "image": [ "https://example.com/img/sourdough-16x9.jpg", "https://example.com/img/sourdough-4x3.jpg", "https://example.com/img/sourdough-1x1.jpg" ] ``` One image is fine to start with; make it wide. ### 3. Dates in ISO 8601 with a timezone ```json "datePublished": "2026-03-12T09:00:00+01:00", "dateModified": "2026-09-01T14:30:00+02:00" ``` `dateModified` must never be earlier than `datePublished`, must match the visible "Updated" date if you show one, and should change only when the content changes, not on every cache rebuild. Google uses the dates as one signal among several for the date shown in results; a markup date that disagrees with the visible date is the fastest way to have both ignored. ### 4. Author as a Person or Organization ```json "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ana Kovač", "url": "https://example.com/author/ana-kovac/" } ``` `name` is the display name a reader would recognise; `url` points to a page about the author, on your site or a profile elsewhere. For content without a named writer, use the Organization. Two things to avoid: `"author": "admin"` (a login name rather than a person, common in WordPress where the display name was never set), and a plain string where an object with `@type` belongs. Google accepts a string but cannot connect it to anything. ### 5. Connect to the Organization with `@id` The publisher is the same entity on every page, so define it once and refer to it. Google's Article documentation no longer lists `publisher` among the recommended properties (it was an AMP-era requirement), but a reference costs nothing and ties the article to your Organization's logo and profiles. The [Organization and WebSite schema guide](https://getreport.app/guides/organization-and-website-schema) sets up the target. ### 6. The complete block Everything above in one `@graph`, in a `