When should a forum use DiscussionForumPosting instead of Article?

Definition: Use DiscussionForumPosting for an original forum posting that starts a discussion and contains first-hand perspectives. Use Google's Article family for publisher-authored news, blog, or sports article pages.

Key facts

• Google's discussion forum documentation defines DiscussionForumPosting as an original posting that is the topic of discussion.
• The same documentation describes the scope as forum-style sites where people collectively share first-hand perspectives.
• It directs a forum that follows a question and answer pattern to use QAPage markup.
• Google's Article structured data documentation targets news, blog, and sports article pages.
• Article objects use one of the Article, NewsArticle, or BlogPosting Schema.org types.

What is the boundary between the two types?

The page's role determines the type. A member's original thread or post that opens a forum discussion fits DiscussionForumPosting. Google's documentation defines that type around an original posting that is the topic of discussion and says forum markup is designed for sites where people collectively share first-hand perspectives.

A publisher's own news report, blog post, or sports article fits the Article family. Google's Article documentation names those three page categories and says Article objects must use Article, NewsArticle, or BlogPosting. This is the documented scope for publisher-authored article content, so an editorial article should not be relabeled as a forum post merely because a website also operates a forum.

The distinction describes the content being marked up. It does not depend on whether the site has a forum section, a blog section, or both.

What should a forum post contain?

For a discussion page, Google lists author, author.name, datePublished, and one content property from text, image, or video as required. The post date uses ISO 8601 format. The headline property is available for the post title, and Google says not to duplicate or truncate the text into a headline when there is no separate title.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DiscussionForumPosting",
  "headline": "A separate discussion title",
  "text": "The visible text of the original post.",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Author name"
  },
  "datePublished": "ISO 8601 date and time"
}

Replies are represented with Comment. Google recommends nesting comments under the post they relate to. On a threaded forum, a tree represents the thread structure. For a linear series of replies, the comments are nested under the original post.

How should a page be tested?

If a URL is primarily about one post, Google recommends mainEntity or mainEntityOfPage to identify the primary DiscussionForumPosting. A profile, topic, or category page can list posts without containing all their reply information. Google says to include the information present on that page and the URL to the discussion-specific posting when appropriate.

Do not mark one post as the page's main entity when the page is not a discussion page for that post. A page containing a related set of posts can use Collection or ItemList to describe that set. Validate the markup with the Rich Results Test, then use the URL Inspection tool to check how Google sees a deployed page.

Related terms

• Article structured data
• NewsArticle structured data
• BlogPosting structured data
• QAPage structured data

FAQ

Can a publisher mark its own article as DiscussionForumPosting?

Google's documentation assigns DiscussionForumPosting to an original discussion posting. Its Article documentation covers news, blog, and sports article pages, so a publisher's article belongs to the Article family.

Should a question and answer page use DiscussionForumPosting?

When the forum follows a question and answer pattern, Google directs it to use QAPage markup. A discussion thread with replies follows the discussion forum scope.

Which type describes a thread starter?

Use DiscussionForumPosting when the thread starter is an original posting that is the topic of discussion. Add Comment objects for replies when they are present on the page.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Discussion forum (DiscussionForumPosting) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Google Search Central, "Article (Article, NewsArticle, BlogPosting) structured data", 8 September 2026

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