This article is for any SoCast user experiencing issues with images not validating properly within Google News. This may include situations where an incorrect image is displaying on your post.
Google requires all featured images to be at least 1200 pixels wide. If the wrong image size is used, Google will select the highest-resolution image available, which is often the host’s image and may not be ideal for your content.
For more details, see the official Google Article Schema Markup Documentation.
SoCast provides a cropping tool directly in the blog editor. To access it, click the "Crop Thumbnails" button in the Featured Media section of your blog post.
Within the cropping tool, make sure to save a crop for the Facebook Image Share. This crop is set to 1200 pixels wide and will be used by Google News. If your image is smaller than 1200 pixels wide, the tool will automatically resize it to meet the requirement.
To ensure your images validate on Google News, always use images that are at least 1200 pixels wide and use the SoCast cropping tool to set the correct crop for the Facebook Image Share. This will help your articles display correctly and professionally on Google News.