Structured Data and Schema Markup for News Articles

Structured data and schema markup for news articles involve using specific code formats to help search engines better understand and display news content in rich results, such as Top Stories carousels or enhanced article previews.

Key points include:

• Schema.org Article type is commonly used for news articles. It enables search engines to identify the content as a news, sports, or blog article and display it with rich features like headline text and larger images.

• The most recommended format for implementing schema markup is JSON-LD. It is placed within a <script> tag in the HTML head or body and uses name:value pairs to describe properties of the article, such as headline, author, datePublished, image, and publisher.

• Important properties for news articles include:

  • headline: The title of the article
  • image: URL(s) of images associated with the article
  • datePublished and dateModified: Publication and last modification dates
  • author: The person or organization who wrote the article
  • publisher: The news organization publishing the article, often including a logo
  • mainEntityOfPage: The canonical URL of the article page

• Using structured data for news articles can improve SEO by enabling rich results in search engines, which can increase visibility and click-through rates. However, adding schema markup does not guarantee rich result display, as search engines apply complex algorithms to decide when to show them.

• News-specific schema types and properties can be combined with other schemas (e.g., NewsArticle subtype of Article) to provide more detailed context about the news content.

• When developing a structured data strategy for news content, start by marking up key pages with required schema types and properties, then expand to other relevant pages. This approach aligns with overall content and business goals.

In summary, using JSON-LD schema markup with the Article or NewsArticle type and relevant properties is the best practice for news articles to enhance search engine understanding and enable rich search features. This structured data should be carefully implemented following Google’s guidelines to maximize SEO benefits.