Structured Data ( JSON-LD ) Guide

Audience: publishers and SEO / editorial teams using Arena Live Blog.

Arena Live Blog automatically publishes schema.org structured data
(JSON-LD) for every live blog embedded on your pages. This guide explains what is included, where each
value comes from in the Arena Dashboard, and how to get the most out of it for search engines.

A note on expectations. Structured data is not a direct ranking factor. It helps search engines
understand your page (it is live coverage of a specific event, by a specific publisher, last updated at a
specific time) and can make the page eligible for richer search treatments. Whether and how Google shows
those treatments is always Google's decision.

---

1. How it works

1. You create a Live Blog in the Arena Dashboard and embed it on your own article page.
2. When the widget loads, Arena generates the structured data for that live blog and adds it to the page.
3. The structured data points to your article page (the page where the widget is embedded) as the
   canonical page for the coverage. This tells search engines that the coverage belongs to your page, which is
   the page you want to rank.

What this means for you:

• Embed the widget on the page you want to rank. The page URL is picked up automatically — there is
  nothing to configure.
• The Arena widget itself is an embed and is not meant to be indexed on its own; indexing happens through
  your host page.
• The markup is valid in the page <body>; Google accepts structured data in either <head> or <body>.

---

2. What is included

The main object is a LiveBlogPosting (a kind of Article). Fields marked Dashboard are controlled by you.

dateModified is the most valuable field for live content. Because it follows your latest post, search
engines can see that your coverage is active and fresh. Keep publishing updates during the event.

---

3. Event details (about)

When your Live Blog has a start date and time, Arena also describes the event itself (Event):

Location

• If you fill in Location, it is published as the event's physical place.
• If you leave it empty, the event is published as an online event.

Tip — always set a start date and time. Search engines require a start date to understand an event.
If a Live Blog has no start date, Arena leaves the whole about block out instead of inventing one.

---

4. Coverage end time (coverageEndTime)

This tells search engines whether your coverage is still ongoing. Arena calculates it for you:

• Status = Live / Future: coverage is assumed to continue for a window after the start time, and is
  extended automatically as you keep posting.
  • Default window by category: Sports ≈ 3 hours, News ≈ 24 hours.
  • The window can be customized per account. Contact your Arena representative if you need a different one.
• Status = Concluded: the end time is anchored to your last published update.

So, for accurate results:

1. Choose the right Category when creating the Live Blog (it sets the default window).
2. Set the Status to Concluded when the event is over.

---

5. Publisher and authors

• Publisher (NewsMediaOrganization): your organization's name, website and logo. Keep these correct in
  your publisher settings. The logo is published as an 800×800 image, so a square logo works best.
• Authors (Person): names (and photos, when available) of the authors credited on your updates are
  listed once each, even if they post many times.
  • Manage them in the Dashboard under Live Blog → Manage Authors and choose Display Author when
    posting.
  • Photos: square (1:1), .jpg or .png, up to 1 MB.
• Individual updates inside the blog are attributed to your organization; named authors appear at the
  live-blog level.

---

6. Live updates (liveBlogUpdate)

Each post you publish becomes a BlogPosting entry containing:

Tip — add a title and a thumbnail to video posts. Title, thumbnail and upload date are the properties
Google requires for video rich results; Arena publishes them for every video post that has a thumbnail.

---

7. Checklist for best results

• Embed the widget on the article page you want to rank.
• Give the Live Blog a clear Title and a Description.
• Set the correct Language and Category.
• Always set the Date / Time.
• Fill in Location for in-person events.
• Upload an event cover image.
• Credit Authors with a name and photo.
• Publish updates regularly during the event (this keeps dateModified fresh).
• Set Status = Concluded when the event ends.
• Keep publisher name, logo and website URL up to date.

---

8. Good to know

• The coverage end time and the update url rules for sports events are automatic and are not editable in
  the Dashboard.
• Updates carry the time they were first published; later edits to a post do not change its timestamp.
• The event status in the about block is always published as "scheduled", even after the live blog is
  concluded; use coverageEndTime and expires to signal that coverage has ended.
• If your own page already contains Article markup, make sure the two descriptions stay consistent
  (same title, same publisher, same dates).
• The markup does not currently include a top-level image property for the live blog itself. Images are
  provided on the event (about.image) and on individual updates. If your page's own Article markup defines a
  main image, that remains the signal Google uses for the page.

---

9. Verify your page

1. Open your published article page.
2. Paste its URL into Google's Rich Results Test: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
3. Or check the markup with the Schema Markup Validator: https://validator.schema.org/
4. Look for a LiveBlogPosting item and confirm headline, dates, publisher and updates look right.

Useful references:

• schema.org — LiveBlogPosting
• Google — Article structured data
• Google — Video structured data

Questions about your account's settings? Contact your Arena representative or support.