TableTechGuide

The article format used by this template

Grey rectangle with a dark band, placeholder image that must be replaced

This sample article exists so the project compiles and to document the format. Delete it before publishing the real site.

The front matter fields

Every article’s front matter is validated against a schema in src/content.config.ts. If a field is missing or invalid, the build fails and the error names the exact file and field to fix. That’s deliberate: a title Google truncates costs clicks, and it’s cheaper to catch that at build time than three weeks later.

  • title: between 10 and 70 characters. Above 70, Google truncates it.
  • description: between 70 and 160 characters. This is what appears under the title in search results, so it decides whether someone clicks through or keeps scrolling.
  • cluster: the cluster file’s name, without its extension. If it points to a cluster that doesn’t exist, the build stops.
  • cover: a relative path to an image inside the same folder. At least 1200 pixels wide and a 16:9 ratio if you want Discover to show it at full size.
  • coverAlt: a real description of the image, at least 10 characters. It isn’t legal decoration: it’s what someone using a screen reader hears.
  • publishedAt: publication date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
  • updatedAt: optional. Set it when you genuinely revise the article, not to fake freshness.
  • draft: true keeps the article out of the production build but visible in development.

Where the ads go

Ad slots aren’t written into the article’s body text. The template places them on its own: one after the cover image and one at the end of the content. They’re controlled from the PUBLIC_AD_SLOT_ARTICLE_TOP and PUBLIC_AD_SLOT_ARTICLE_END environment variables.

If those variables are empty, or the publisher ID doesn’t match the exact format Google issues, no ad script loads and no slot renders. The site works the same either way, without ads and without third-party scripts.

How the URL is built

This article’s address is the cluster’s id followed by the file name: /how-this-template-works/article-format. Renaming the file changes the address, so once an article is published and ranking, its filename doesn’t change.