This factor reports whether RankGear finds a BackgroundNewsArticle @type declared in a page’s JSON-LD. It is a binary presence check (1 = found, 0 = not found) run against the raw rendered HTML — it confirms the string is there, not that the surrounding JSON-LD graph is valid.
| Factor ID | RG-SCJ-027 |
|---|---|
| Family | Structured Data — JSON-LD |
| Measurement | Binary presence (0 / 1) |
| Measured zone | Raw rendered HTML |
What it measures
This factor reports whether RankGear finds an @type value of BackgroundNewsArticle in the page source. BackgroundNewsArticle is a schema.org type used to mark up contextual news reporting — the explanatory background pieces that surround a breaking story. The factor answers one narrow question: is that type declared on the page, yes or no.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear searches the raw HTML for the @type declaration, allowing flexible whitespace around the value and optionally a schema: prefix. Matching is case-insensitive, so capitalization differences do not change the result. If a matching string is present the factor returns 1; otherwise it returns 0.
What RankGear looks for
"@type": "BackgroundNewsArticle"
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "BackgroundNewsArticle",
"headline": "...",
"author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "..." },
"publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "..." },
"datePublished": "..."
}
</script>| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | A BackgroundNewsArticle @type string was found in the raw HTML. |
| 0 | No matching string was found. |
How to optimize it
Use BackgroundNewsArticle only for genuine contextual news reporting — background and explanatory coverage that supports a wider story — and populate it with an accurate headline, author, publisher, and dates. For most pages this factor is best read as an observation of what markup is present, not a target to chase: adding the type to a page that is not background news reporting misrepresents the content and does nothing useful.
Important considerations
- RankGear pattern-matches the source text rather than parsing or validating a JSON-LD graph, so a value of 1 confirms the string is present, not that the structured data is well-formed or complete.
- A matching string that sits outside a valid JSON-LD script — in a comment, an example, or prose — can still produce a 1.
- Capitalization differences do not affect detection; matching is case-insensitive.
- All structured data must match visible, truthful content on the page.
- This is a correlation-based signal within a measured result set, not a guarantee of ranking. Presence of the type does not make a page rank.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.