diff --git a/crates/zensical/src/compat/mkdocs/plugin/blog.rs b/crates/zensical/src/compat/mkdocs/plugin/blog.rs
index d0b72fc..1648c2a 100644
--- a/crates/zensical/src/compat/mkdocs/plugin/blog.rs
+++ b/crates/zensical/src/compat/mkdocs/plugin/blog.rs
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ pub struct Patch {
     pub navigation_url: Option<String>,
     /// Explicit hidden-page siblings, when the page isn't a visible item.
     pub siblings: Option<(Option<NavigationItem>, Option<NavigationItem>)>,
-    /// View template applied after revision-complete view classification.
+    /// Default view template used only when page metadata does not choose one.
     pub template: Option<String>,
     /// View table of contents after optional excerpt integration.
     pub toc: Option<Vec<Section>>,
@@ -1197,7 +1197,8 @@ impl Blog {
             }
             _ => BTreeMap::new(),
         };
-        meta.insert("template".into(), Dynamic::String("blog.html".into()));
+        meta.entry("template".into())
+            .or_insert_with(|| Dynamic::String("blog.html".into()));
         let document = DocumentHeader::new(source.clone(), body, meta);
         let route = PageRoute::from_source(&self.config, source)?;
         Ok(PageDescriptor::generated(
diff --git a/crates/zensical/src/structure/page.rs b/crates/zensical/src/structure/page.rs
index fc7bf45..1fed62a 100644
--- a/crates/zensical/src/structure/page.rs
+++ b/crates/zensical/src/structure/page.rs
@@ -530,11 +530,13 @@ impl Page {
         self.navigation_siblings = Some((previous, next));
     }
 
-    /// Applies a module-selected page template after view classification.
-    pub(crate) fn apply_template(&mut self, template: String) {
-        Arc::make_mut(&mut self.data)
-            .markdown
-            .insert_meta("template".into(), Dynamic::String(template));
+    /// Applies a view template only when page metadata does not choose one.
+    pub(crate) fn apply_default_template(&mut self, template: String) {
+        if !self.meta.contains_key("template") {
+            Arc::make_mut(&mut self.data)
+                .markdown
+                .insert_meta("template".into(), Dynamic::String(template));
+        }
     }
 
     /// Applies the title assigned to this page by navigation.
diff --git a/crates/zensical/src/workflow.rs b/crates/zensical/src/workflow.rs
index 6741dc2..af72caf 100644
--- a/crates/zensical/src/workflow.rs
+++ b/crates/zensical/src/workflow.rs
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ fn apply_blog(
                     );
                 }
                 if let Some(template) = &patch.template {
-                    rendered.page.apply_template(template.clone());
+                    rendered.page.apply_default_template(template.clone());
                 }
                 if patch.content.is_some() || patch.toc.is_some() {
                     rendered.page.apply_derived(
diff --git a/python/tests/integration/test_blog.py b/python/tests/integration/test_blog.py
index 33f21ba..c2dcef4 100644
--- a/python/tests/integration/test_blog.py
+++ b/python/tests/integration/test_blog.py
@@ -289,6 +289,33 @@ def test_paginated_blog_pages_are_generated_without_source_files(
     assert "|PREV=blog/2026/09/01/one/|NEXT=" in two
 
 
+def test_blog_entrypoint_template_applies_to_paginated_pages(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+) -> None:
+    config = _project(tmp_path, per_page=1, archive=True)
+    (tmp_path / "docs/blog/index.md").write_text(
+        "---\ntitle: Journal\ntemplate: landing.html\n---\n# Journal\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    (tmp_path / "overrides/landing.html").write_text(
+        "LANDING|{{ page.title }}|{{ page.url }}",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    _post(tmp_path, "one.md", "One", "2026-09-01")
+    _post(tmp_path, "two.md", "Two", "2026-09-02")
+
+    zensical.build(str(config), _BUILD_OPTIONS)
+
+    site = tmp_path / "site/blog"
+    assert "LANDING|Journal|blog/" in (site / "index.html").read_text("utf-8")
+    assert "LANDING|Journal|blog/page/2/" in (
+        site / "page/2/index.html"
+    ).read_text("utf-8")
+    assert "BLOG|2026|" in (
+        site / "archive/2026/index.html"
+    ).read_text("utf-8")
+
+
 def test_single_page_keeps_empty_pagination_context(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     config = _project(tmp_path)
     _post(tmp_path, "one.md", "One", "2026-09-01")