Article Schema
Article schema tells engines who wrote a page, when it was published, and when it changed. Learn the required properties and why freshness signals matter.
TL;DR
Article schema is the structured data type used to describe editorial content: blog posts, guides, news pieces and documentation. It carries the headline, the author, the publish date and the date the page last changed. Those last two do most of the work, because both search and AI engines weight recency when deciding which source to trust.
Why Article schema matters
Editorial pages compete on authorship and freshness, and Article markup is how you state both in terms a machine reads without inference.
- Freshness signals: A declared modified date tells engines the page is current, which matters in categories that change quickly.
- Author attribution: Naming the author, and linking to a real author profile, supports the experience and expertise signals engines look for.
- Correct classification: Marking a guide as an Article stops engines treating it as a product or a landing page.
- Citation context: AI answers that credit a source often surface the publication and date, both of which come from this markup.
How to implement Article schema
Pick the right subtype
Article is the general case. BlogPosting suits blog content and NewsArticle suits time-sensitive reporting. Choose one and apply it consistently.
Set headline accurately
It should match the visible H1. Engines flag mismatches, and long headlines get truncated in some contexts.
Name a real author
Use a Person type with a name and a URL pointing to a genuine author page, not a generic company byline.
Include both dates
datePublished and dateModified, in ISO 8601 format. Update the modified date only when the content genuinely changed.
Add the image
A high-resolution image with explicit dimensions, since some result formats require one to be eligible.
Link the publisher
Nest an Organization with name and logo so the source of the article is unambiguous.
Article schema vs. FAQPage schema
Article schema: Describes the page as a whole: who wrote it, when, and what it is called. One block covering the document.
FAQPage schema: Describes question and answer pairs inside the page. Several blocks covering specific exchanges.
The two coexist comfortably. A guide can carry Article markup for the document and FAQPage markup for its question section, and engines read both without conflict.
Markup declares your dates; it cannot make a stale page current. Findrix checks structured data and content freshness as part of a 31-point technical audit, then tracks whether seven AI engines actually cite your pages against named competitors. Every gap comes with the fix already written: technical, content and off-site. The audit is free, takes about a minute, and requires no signup.
Required and recommended properties
- headline: The article title, matching the visible heading.
- author: A Person or Organization, ideally with a URL to a real profile.
- datePublished: When the article first went live, in ISO 8601.
- dateModified: When it last changed substantively, updated honestly.
- image: A representative image with dimensions large enough for rich result eligibility.
- publisher: An Organization with name and logo.
The dateModified problem
Freshness is a real signal, which means it is a tempting one to fake. Teams change a comma, bump dateModified, and expect engines to treat the page as new. It works briefly and then stops, because engines compare declared dates against actual content change and adjust their trust accordingly.
There is a related failure worth naming: pages that were genuinely updated and never had their markup touched, so the JSON-LD still declares a date from two years ago.
Understating your freshness is far more common than overstating it. Check that real updates actually reach the markup.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use Article, BlogPosting, or NewsArticle?
BlogPosting for blog content, NewsArticle for journalism with a timeliness requirement, and Article for everything else including guides and documentation. Engines treat them similarly, so consistency matters more than the specific choice.
Does Article schema help with AI citations?
It helps engines attribute the content correctly and read the freshness signals, which supports citation without guaranteeing it. Engines cite pages that answer the question well; markup makes the attribution cleaner once they do.
Do I need an author page for the author property?
Not strictly, but a URL pointing at a real author profile with a biography and other work is materially stronger than a name string alone. Engines increasingly look for evidence that the named author exists and has relevant expertise.