Google has updated its Developers Page for article structured data, encompassing recipe articles. These updates pertain to publication and modification dates. The additional properties are optional and recommended only if relevant to your context.
The Google Structured Data Testing Tool will not issue a warning if you choose not to use these properties in your structured data. However, there are practical benefits to consider.
What Changed on Google’s Developer Page?
Google’s Developer page on article-related schemas has been updated. Specifically, Google added an optional recommendation to use datePublished and dateModified properties within the article content type.
The use of these properties is entirely optional, allowing publishers to determine their appropriateness.
Should You Use these Properties?
These properties are valuable for indicating when an article was published, which is particularly important for non-evergreen topics that tend to change over time.
Examples of non-evergreen content include news, product reviews, and technology information. In such cases, it may be beneficial to signal to Google and readers that an article has a recent publication date, making the article more appealing for content where timeliness is crucial.
Should Publishers of Evergreen Content Use It?
Evergreen content remains relevant over time, such as movie reviews, recipes, and how-to articles. For older articles that are updated, signaling to Google and site visitors that an article has been modified can help maintain its relevance.
An example could be a technology-related article where the technology is updated, necessitating a tutorial update to keep it current. The dateModified property is useful for indicating modifications, potentially making the article more appealing by showing it is still relevant.
Should Recipe Bloggers Use these Properties?
Recipe content is generally regarded as evergreen. However, some may argue that recipes reflect current cooking practices and may change over time.
I consulted Casey Markee, founder of Media Wyse. Structured data markup is crucial for recipe bloggers, and Media Wyse has significant experience in auditing and supporting recipe websites, including their structured data.
Casey noted that this kind of information benefits the user:
“Last modified/Updated notations are a user-first optimization practice, in my opinion. I believe that the more information I can provide for the user, the better it is for them.”
Should recipe bloggers use these schema properties? Casey’s answer:
“I recommend it in my website audits, so yes.”
Casey offered these insights:
“Many publishers avoid it, fearing it undermines ‘evergreen content practices.’ Some bigger bloggers believe all recipes are ‘inherently’ evergreen. But I think that’s not the best approach. You can always improve recipes.
There is no real advantage from an SEO standpoint with Google. Google isn’t likely to change crawling.
But this may be another signal to enhance freshness or stave off decay metrics.
Bottom Line: there is little reason NOT to use this. All things considered.”
Schema.org datePublished Example:
The official documentation at Schema.org provides an example of using the datePublished property with JSON-LD. Schema.org uses the example of a recipe article, supporting Casey Markee’s recommendation for its use in recipe content.
{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Recipe",
"author": "John Smith",
"cookTime": "PT1H",
"datePublished": "2009-05-08",
"description": "This classic banana bread recipe comes from my mom — the walnuts add a nice texture and flavor to the banana bread.",
"image": "bananabread.jpg",
"recipeIngredient": [
"3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed",
"1 egg",
"3/4 cup of sugar"
],
"interactionStatistic": {
"@type": "InteractionCounter",
"interactionType": "http://schema.org/Comment",
"userInteractionCount": "140"
},
"name": "Mom’s World Famous Banana Bread",
"nutrition": {
"@type": "NutritionInformation",
"calories": "240 calories",
"fatContent": "9 grams fat"
},
"prepTime": "PT15M",
"recipeInstructions": "Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix in the ingredients in a bowl. Add the flour last. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan and bake for one hour.",
"recipeYield": "1 loaf",
"suitableForDiet": "http://schema.org/LowFatDiet"
}As illustrated, adding publication date information is straightforward. Simply add the line within the appropriate section for the article type, which in this case, is Recipe. This approach can be applied to any article type.
How to use dateModified
Building on the previous example, you can add the dateModified property like this:
{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Recipe",
"author": "John Smith",
"cookTime": "PT1H",
"datePublished": "2009-05-08",
"dateModified": "2018-07-01",
...
}Adding these two properties is simple, especially when using JSON-LD. One way to decide whether to include these properties is to consider if site visitors need to know about updates to a page.
