An announcement page needs more than a visible headline and publication date. Its structured data should describe the same article that a reader sees, using a stable author identity, accurate dates and a representative image that crawlers can reach.
Google does not require Article properties for eligibility, but it recommends adding the properties that apply. Treat the markup as a compact factual record, not a place to add claims that are absent from the page.
Start with the article type
Use Article, NewsArticle or BlogPosting according to the page. A company newsroom story can use NewsArticle when it reports a dated development. A practical evergreen guide may fit Article or BlogPosting better.
The choice does not turn promotional copy into independent reporting. Keep sponsorship and commercial disclosures visible in the page experience, and make the markup describe the content as published.
Keep the headline aligned
The structured headline should match the article’s main subject and visible title. Google advises concise titles because long ones can be truncated on some devices.
Do not use the markup to insert a stronger promise, a different availability claim or a new market. If the visible title says a feature is in preview, the structured headline should not imply a general launch.
Before release, compare four fields side by side:
| Field | What to check |
|---|---|
| Visible H1 | Accurate article title |
| HTML title | Search result title candidate |
| Article headline | Same article identity in structured data |
| Social preview | Same stage, product and market promise |
The fields need not be character-for-character duplicates, but they should not describe different events.
Publish the real dates
Use datePublished for the article’s first publication time and dateModified for the most recent substantive modification. Google recommends ISO 8601 date-time values with timezone information.
Do not reset the first-publication date when you fix a typo or refresh a screenshot. If a later correction materially changes the story, update the visible correction note and the modification date together.
For a release that announces a future event, keep the event date in the article text. The publication date still describes when the page first became public. Mixing those dates makes the record harder to audit.
Identify every author
List each visible author separately. Google recommends a Person type for a person and an Organization type for an organization, with a URL or sameAs value that uniquely identifies the author.
The author.name field should contain the name only. Put a job title in its own field and the publisher in the publisher field. Do not combine two people into one author string.
If the newsroom uses an editorial team byline, link that organization name to its real profile or home page. A generic team label should still point to a page that explains who is responsible for the work.
Give Google usable images
The structured image must represent the article, be crawlable and use a supported format. Google recommends multiple high-resolution versions at 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1, with at least 50,000 pixels each.
Prepare crops from one approved visual system, then inspect what each crop removes. A safe 16:9 cover can lose its product name or diagram labels in a square card. Keep essential meaning inside the shared safe area.
Logos alone are not representative article images. Use the announcement’s real subject: a product interface, an approved object-led illustration, a chart based on published data or another accurate visual. Record rights and credits with the asset.
The image accessibility checklist covers alt text and captions. Structured data does not replace either one.
Test what a crawler receives
Run the final public URL through Google’s Rich Results Test and inspect it with URL Inspection after publication. Google also recommends deploying a small set first, checking crawl access, then requesting recrawl when appropriate.
Verify the production page, not only a staging preview. Check that robots rules, noindex, login requirements or broken image paths do not block the page or its media.
For a multi-part article, Google says the canonical should point to each individual page or a view-all page, not automatically to page one. The canonical URLs guide explains why a publisher’s copy may still use a different policy.
Keep a release record
Store the final URL, visible title, first-publication time, modification time, author profile and structured image URLs with the approved copy. If a correction changes any of those facts, review the page and markup in the same ticket.
Structured data can help a search system understand an article. It does not guarantee a rich result, indexing or distribution. Measure crawl and search outcomes separately from publication delivery.
Sources and review date
Source checked October 23, 2026. This guide describes publication and verification steps; it does not promise search visibility.