Article Structured Data: Check That It Tells the Same Story

Collect visible facts before writing code

Record the edition URL, title, real editorial byline, first publication and latest substantive update. Add the image representing the article where appropriate. Identify the source of each value: an editorial record, published text or a resource you can open. This short list prevents two systems from inventing different versions of one page.

Google documents Article as information that helps it understand an article. In our fictional exercise, a magazine publishes a notebook-care guide. Its author is the organization that actually edits it. There is no need to invent a person to populate authorship.

Use a small fragment you can compare

This is an original abbreviated JSON-LD example. Its addresses use an illustrative domain and its dates are fictional; replace them with the actual page’s data. The fragment is displayed as readable code and does not add a second editorial identity to this guide.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "How to Preserve a Notebook",
  "url": "https://journal.example/en/notebooks/",
  "inLanguage": "en",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Example Magazine"
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-10-01T09:00:00-06:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-12T11:30:00-06:00"
}

Compare each value with the page. If a CMS already generates another block for the same article, review their relationship before pasting a contradictory second version. Maintain one editorial data source that can feed both visible HTML and markup.

Describe a recognizable reading path

BreadcrumbList orders its items by position. A possible example path is Magazine → Resources → Notebook Care. Check that the labels help someone recognize the guide’s location and that intermediate destinations exist. The hierarchy can express editorial organization even when the URL text has a different shape.

Our example has positions 1, 2 and 3, with names and URLs for each step. When implementing it, consult the current properties in the Breadcrumb documentation. Our bilingual internal-links guide helps decide which readings connect.

Check every edition and its dates

A Chinese edition needs its Chinese title and address; the English edition needs its own. Also review the declared language and that edition’s breadcrumb destinations. Keep this description distinct from the tags linking translations, explained in our hreflang guide.

Google documents datePublished and dateModified as different moments. Publishing another article or rebuilding the site does not update the whole archive. Preserve first publication and change the modification date when that edition receives a substantive revision. Record timezone information too.

Keep three separate check results

• Syntax: the block is interpreted correctly as JSON-LD.
• Correspondence: values, entities and dates describe visible content.
• Publication: the page and necessary links and images are accessible at their intended URLs.

Google recommends testing and URL-inspection tools within publication. Record the tool, date, URL or code checked and observation. Testing pasted code and testing a published URL cover different things. Our technical foundations guide completes the access review.

Repeat the review when article identity changes

Check markup after changing a byline, removing an image, moving a section or correcting dates. A simple table can record field, visible value, declared value and open decision. If they differ, fix the source generating the incorrect value before spreading the change across other pages.

Google’s policies ask data to represent page content and explain that markup alone does not ensure a special presentation. The useful result is a coherent, inspectable description. Observed search changes can be recorded afterward with their date and evidence.