Article Schema Markup: Author, Dates and Images Done Right

Why article schema markup matters

Search engines read the visible text of a page, but they do not always work out which line is the real headline, who the author is or when the piece first went live. This gets harder when the template carries menus, banners and “related posts” widgets. Schema.org markup answers those questions directly.

It helps to be realistic. Article schema markup is not a ranking switch. It helps the search engine display the headline, image and date correctly and ties the page to a specific person and organisation. The benefit is real only when useful content sits behind it.

Article, BlogPosting or NewsArticle

Schema.org offers a general type and two narrower ones. For a Tashkent renovation company’s blog, or an online shop with an advice section, the practical difference is small, so do not spend long on the choice.

• Article: the all-purpose type for guides, analysis and long reads.
• BlogPosting: a post on a company or personal blog.
• NewsArticle: only if your site publishes genuine news, not promotional announcements.

Properties worth filling in

The usual format is JSON-LD, a separate snippet in the page code that stays apart from your layout. A sensible minimum looks like this:

• headline: close to the on-page H1, without the site name tacked on;
• image: one or more images, ideally in different aspect ratios and visible on the page;
• datePublished: when the article first went live;
• dateModified: when it was last meaningfully revised;
• author: a name plus a link to the author’s page;
• publisher: the organisation behind the site.

Authors: a real person, not “admin”

Search engines pay closer attention to who wrote a page when the topic touches health, money or safety. A dental clinic should name the dentist, a law firm should name a practising lawyer, rather than an anonymous editorial desk.

If your markup links to an author, that page has to exist and say something: name, photo, role, experience, a list of their articles and professional profiles such as a Telegram channel or LinkedIn. A page with just a name adds no trust. A common CMS problem is a technical login showing up in the author field, so check that first.

Honest dates

The publication date should not change every time someone clicks Save. The modified date should move only when the article genuinely changed: prices rechecked, a section added, outdated advice corrected. A fixed comma or a new theme is not a reason to touch it.

The date a reader sees must match the date in the markup. A mismatch looks like an attempt to pass old text off as fresh, and search engines can compare versions of a page. If an article is stale, rewriting it is better than nudging the date. If you include a time, use the Tashkent offset, +05:00.

Common mistakes and how to validate

Usually it is the meaning that breaks, not the syntax. Look for these on your own site:

• the page title with the company name is used as headline;
• article markup sits on category pages or lists of posts;
• the listed image is missing from the page or blocked for crawlers;
• two plugins output two different Article blocks on one page;
• the Person type is used for a company name in author.

Where to start

Run several articles through Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator: the first shows which fields were recognised, the second catches syntax errors. If an SEO plugin generates the markup, find out where it takes the author and dates from, and set those profiles up by hand.

Structured data is one part of SEO optimisation in Uzbekistan, and it is easiest to review together with page structure and indexing. If you would like the markdev team to look at your blog and point out what to fix first, send us a short description of your task.