Article Schema — Get Cited by AI with Proper Attribution

Article structured data tells AI systems who wrote your content, when it was published, and who published it. This attribution data is the foundation of trustworthy AI citations and directly influences whether your content is cited with your name or anonymously.

Article vs BlogPosting — Which Type to Use?

Both Article and BlogPosting extend the Schema.org Article type. The distinction matters for AI systems interpreting content type:

Article — use for news articles, long-form editorial content, research pieces, and authoritative guides. Signals journalistic or editorial intent.
BlogPosting — use for blog posts, opinion pieces, and informal content. A subtype of Article, so it inherits all the same properties.
TechArticle — a subtype of Article specifically for technical documentation and how-to content. AI systems may prefer this for developer documentation.

When in doubt, use Article. It is the broadest and most widely supported type across AI crawlers and Google rich results.

Why Article Schema Matters for AI Visibility

AI retrieval systems prioritise content they can attribute. When a large language model generates a response that cites your article, it needs to know:

Who wrote it — the author's name and credentials (E-E-A-T signals)
When it was published — to assess freshness and relevance
Who published it — the organisation's authority and trustworthiness

Without Article schema, AI systems must infer this information from page text, bylines, and metadata — a process prone to errors. Explicit schema eliminates ambiguity and increases citation confidence.

Google AI Overviews specifically use Article schema to populate source cards. Perplexity uses author and publisher data to rank source credibility in citations.

JSON-LD Code Snippet

Place this block inside your page's <head>. Replace all placeholder values with your actual content data.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Your Article Title Here — Keep It Under 110 Characters",
  "description": "A concise summary of the article content in 1-2 sentences.",
  "datePublished": "2026-04-16",
  "dateModified": "2026-04-16",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Jane Smith",
    "url": "https://example.com/about/jane-smith",
    "jobTitle": "Senior Web Developer",
    "worksFor": {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "name": "Example Agency"
    }
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Company Name",
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://example.com/logo.png",
      "width": 200,
      "height": 60
    }
  },
  "image": {
    "@type": "ImageObject",
    "url": "https://example.com/article-image.jpg",
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 630
  },
  "url": "https://example.com/your-article-slug",
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://example.com/your-article-slug"
  }
}
</script>

Key Properties Explained

headline — the article title. Keep it under 110 characters. Must match the visible <h1> or page title.
datePublished — ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD). Use the original publication date, never update it when editing.
dateModified — update this every time you revise the article. AI systems use this to assess content freshness.
author — link to a Person entity. A URL to an author profile page strengthens E-E-A-T signals significantly.
publisher — the organisation that publishes the content. Include a logo for Google rich result eligibility.
image — a representative image. Google requires at least 1200px width for rich results. Perplexity uses this in source cards.
mainEntityOfPage — links the article to its canonical URL. Helps AI systems resolve the primary URL for this content.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Decide on your type. Choose Article, BlogPosting, or TechArticle based on your content type.
Gather your metadata. Collect the exact publication date, modification date, author name, author profile URL, and publisher logo URL before writing the schema.
Write the JSON-LD. Use the snippet above as your template. Do not leave placeholder values in production.
Add to your <head>. WordPress users: use Yoast SEO (Article settings in the SEO meta box) or add a Custom HTML widget. Custom sites: paste directly into the <head> template.
Validate with Google Rich Results Test. Go to search.google.com/test/rich-results and enter your article URL. Look for "Article" in the detected items and verify zero errors.
Check Google Search Console. After a few days, check Search Console > Enhancements for Article rich results status and any coverage issues.

Common Mistakes

Omitting dateModified. Without dateModified, AI systems cannot tell if your content is current. Always update this field when you revise an article.
Using a generic author name. "Admin" or "Editorial Team" provides no E-E-A-T value. Use a real person's name and link to their author profile.
Missing the publisher logo. Google requires a publisher logo to show Article rich results. The logo must be at least 60px tall or wide.
Image too small. Images under 1200px wide are ineligible for Google's Article rich results. Use a proper Open Graph image sized at 1200×630 px.
Headline mismatch. The headline in schema must match the visible page title. A mismatch causes a validation warning and reduces AI attribution confidence.
Multiple Article schemas on one page. Use a single Article entity per page. CMS plugins sometimes add duplicate schemas — audit with the Rich Results Test.

Official Sources

Test your website now — free AI Visibility Score Check Article schema and 18 other AI visibility signals in under 30 seconds

Related Guides

👤

Author SchemaStrengthen E-E-A-T signals by connecting content to real authors.

📅

Content Freshness SignalsUse datePublished and dateModified to signal up-to-date content.