I added structured data to a bunch of articles using a schema generator, and everything validated in the testing tool. I considered the job done and moved on.

A week later, Search Console flagged warnings for missing optional fields like image and author URL. They weren’t critical, but I went back and filled them in anyway. Lesson learned: valid doesn’t always mean complete.

Do you bother with the recommended properties, or stick to the required ones? I’m also wondering how much rich result eligibility changes with these extras, since the data on that seems thin. Has anyone compared pages with and without them?