NewsArticle Schema Guide: Complete JSON-LD Implementation for 2025

NewsArticle schema is the foundation of Google News SEO. Without proper structured data markup, your articles cannot fully participate in Google News, Top Stories, or AI-powered search surfaces. This guide covers everything you need to implement NewsArticle schema correctly in 2025.

Understanding the Schema.org Vocabulary

Schema.org is a collaborative project between Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex to create a shared vocabulary for structured data on the web. NewsArticle is a type in the schema.org hierarchy: Thing > CreativeWork > Article > NewsArticle.

Google recommends JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) as the preferred format for structured data, though Microdata and RDFa are also supported. JSON-LD is implemented as a <script> tag and doesn't require modifying your HTML structure.

Required Fields for NewsArticle

The following fields are required or strongly recommended by Google for NewsArticle schema:

@context and @type

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "NewsArticle"
}

headline

The article's title. Maximum 110 characters. Must not be promotional or clickbait.

"headline": "Scientists Discover New Species of Deep-Sea Octopus"

image

The main article image as an ImageObject. Must be at least 1200 pixels wide for eligibility in Top Stories rich results.

"image": {
  "@type": "ImageObject",
  "url": "https://example.com/octopus-discovery.jpg",
  "width": 1200,
  "height": 675
}

datePublished

The date and time the article was first published in ISO 8601 format. This MUST be the original publication date, not a modification date.

"datePublished": "2025-03-15T09:30:00Z"

dateModified

The date and time the article was most recently modified. If the article has never been modified, use the same value as datePublished.

"dateModified": "2025-03-15T14:00:00Z"

author

The author(s) of the article. Can be a Person or Organization. Use an array for multiple authors.

"author": [{
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Dr. Sarah Johnson",
  "url": "https://example.com/authors/sarah-johnson",
  "sameAs": "https://twitter.com/sarahjohnson"
}]

publisher

The organization responsible for publishing the article. The logo must meet Google's size requirements: maximum 600px × 60px.

"publisher": {
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Science Daily News",
  "logo": {
    "@type": "ImageObject",
    "url": "https://example.com/logo.png",
    "width": 200,
    "height": 60
  }
}

Complete NewsArticle Schema Example

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "NewsArticle",
  "headline": "Scientists Discover New Species of Deep-Sea Octopus",
  "description": "Marine biologists have identified a new species of octopus living at depths of 3,000 meters in the Pacific Ocean.",
  "image": {
    "@type": "ImageObject",
    "url": "https://example.com/octopus.jpg",
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 675
  },
  "datePublished": "2025-03-15T09:30:00Z",
  "dateModified": "2025-03-15T14:00:00Z",
  "author": [{
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Dr. Sarah Johnson",
    "url": "https://example.com/authors/sarah-johnson",
    "jobTitle": "Science Editor",
    "sameAs": [
      "https://twitter.com/sarahjohnson",
      "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjohnson"
    ]
  }],
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Science Daily News",
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://example.com/logo.png",
      "width": 200,
      "height": 60
    }
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://example.com/science/new-octopus-species"
  },
  "url": "https://example.com/science/new-octopus-species",
  "articleSection": "Science",
  "keywords": "octopus, marine biology, deep sea, new species, Pacific Ocean"
}
</script>

Common Schema Validation Errors

• "headline" missing: The most common error. Every NewsArticle must have a headline field.
• Image too small: Images must be at least 1200px wide for Top Stories eligibility. Smaller images will cause a "Warning" in Rich Results Test.
• Invalid date format: Dates must be in ISO 8601 format. "March 15, 2025" is invalid; "2025-03-15" is valid.
• Publisher logo too large: The logo URL's image must not exceed 600×60 pixels. Larger logos cause errors.
• No mainEntityOfPage: This optional field is recommended for connecting the schema to the specific page URL.

Validating Your NewsArticle Schema

Always validate your schema before publishing:

1. Use Google's Rich Results Test — enter your URL or paste the HTML
2. Check the Schema.org validator at validator.schema.org
3. Use our free Google News Validator for comprehensive news-specific validation

After your article is published and indexed, you can also view the parsed structured data in Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool under "Enhancements."