Do you think its better to have a published date AND a last updated date ? Does google even look if you updated but left the published date old
-
Do you think its better to have a published date AND a last updated date on Posts ? Does google even look if you updated but left the published date old
I was thinking of adding a "last updated" field to my articles. But is it worth it? or should I just keep it uncluttered and leave only the last published date? I would think that Google would not notice if I updated a last updated meta field since their is a published date field already.
-
I agree about not using css to hide the date. I would not hide anything on a webpage.
I don't know enough about WordPress to tell you how to do that. It probably can be done, but I don't know for sure.
-
Thank you for your response.
If I am going to NOT include a date on some posts - How would I go about doing this?
I use wordpress, and the post date is included in the post meta field by default when a post is published. I do not think that simply using css to hide the post date by "display:none" is the correct way, since that would only hide it from people and not from a google crawler. And I would NOT want to hide the date on ALL posts - Only on some posts. Do you know how I would go about implementing this? Would this require that I make another post template or something?
-
Thank you for your response.
But did they update their posts date ? Or just a p span that said something like Last Updated: 11/02/15
That is where I am confused. I use wordpress so I am trying to understand, that if I do implement a "Last Updated" field, I want to know if I have to physically code it into my single posts template file a certain way so that google can know what it is when it crawls it. The last thing I would want is to code it, but code it a certain way that google will see it as a p span that is part of the body text and not as a special last updated meta field or something like that. I see there are some plugins but I don't want to use a plugin for one meta field.
-
I think that a lot of articles can be written without a date if they are content that is close to being totally evergreen. If you add a date to these articles and that date is a few years old, it can tarnish the opinion of the visitor when there is nothing wrong with the article, and the article might even be among the very best on the web. So, I don't date a lot of my articles for that reason.
I am always upgrading articles, which is different from updating. An update is when you add fresh news or information that is totally new about the subject. An upgrade is when you add another section of evergreen content, add new photos, improve photos, add a video, do a rewrite for clarity, or other type of improvement. I notice that when I upgrade an article it often moves higher in the SERPs. Usually just a few positions if it is on the first page, but if it is deep in the SERPs, it might move up substantially. I've never had anything move from bottom of first page to #1, unless it moved into the featured snippet.
If you have a website with a few thousand articles and your author team is two or three people, if each of them update or upgrade one article every working day, there will be articles on your site that go a long time without an update. Figure 200 working days in a year and a three person team.... if you have a 6000 article website that means it will take ten years to upgrade or update every article - if you do them in a straight rotation.
-
There have been some interesting articles surfacing recently on this with the last study I read (this week) showing that simply updating the date with "Last Updated" and updating the article, refreshed something that was a year old and that had dropped from the first page to the second, and had reached position 1 again.
This is definitely something that anyone with a blog should look to do.
-Andy
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Updating a Business Blog Article - Old or New Published Date
There are a few business blogs that I'm currently updating - include more details, information, case studies, statistics etc. The blog was originally published in September of 2016. Once I make the changes, do I keep the same original date or do I change the date to the day that i've uploaded the new information? Example:
Content Development | | Kdruckenbrod
Original Published date: September 2016
Updated Blog: June 2017. What date should the blog display? Thank you.0 -
Content Duplication Issue On Content Publishing Site
I am running Free Article Posting site but I discover people are posting their content which already has been published on different sites before. What should i need to do in order to save my site from Google penalty.3 waiting for your kind help in this regard Thanks in advance
Content Development | | Mustansar0 -
About Google Instant Preview
Hi all, Please, I have a doubt about how Google Instant Preview works. My website is www.emagister.com, it’s a Spanish website and our servers are here in Spain (for the Spanish version of course) Sometimes, in some URLs appears Google Instant Preview image with the preview of my website that advises users that they could visit USA or German version of my Website while they visit the Spanish version www.emagister.com. Even though they stayed in German or USA…. Sometimes in the Instant Preview image it shows that they could visit the version in German or American even though the user is in Spain. Then when I click on the link, the text does not show up. Emagister gets 12 version (each country we have). I attached screen-shoot. I don’t understand how it works, cause I’m in Spain, I visit my Spanish version and I see Istant Preview with this message…it happens just with a couple of URLs: Just two examples: http://www.emagister.com/cursos-nutricion-tematica-175_1.htm http://www.emagister.com/cursos-ensenanza-tematica-600_1.htm Thank in advance for your help, Best regards, Francesca Nuvola
Content Development | | EmagisterSEO0 -
Should I publish several blog posts at once or stagger?
I have several blog posts that I want to publish (40 or so). For freshness is it better to stagger their publication over several months or is it fine to publish them all at the same time. The comments are closed.
Content Development | | AndreB0 -
How to make blog show in Google Trends Blogs Section?
Hi Guys, Is there something that I need to do to make my blog posts appear in the Blogs Section of Google Trends? I've noticed that there are blogs whose latest posts appear on the Blog section of Google Trends and would also like my blog to appear there if possible. Thanks in advance...
Content Development | | Trigun0 -
Our blog is indexed by "google web" but does not show up in "google blogs". Why not and how can I fix this?
We have a pretty simple blog http://www.aviawest.com/blog I've noticed our articles arn't showing up in Google blogs on "web", we've submitted to http://blogsearch.google.com/ping a month ago. Anyone have some insight here?
Content Development | | Aviawest0 -
Asynchronous loading of google maps?
I'm working on a page that ranks the 10 best neighborhoods in our city. With each of the top 10 I have a 300x200 google map of the area. These maps are taking some time to load and slowing down the speed of the page. Is there a way to load these asynchronously? Or any other way to speed up the page?
Content Development | | MarieHaynes0 -
Your Site and Google News Question
My site has been in Google News for about 3 years. Over the weekend, I received this message from Google Hi John, We periodically review news sources, to ensure Google News offers a high quality experience for our users. When we reviewed your site, mainstreetmonroe.com, we found that we can no longer include it in Google News at this time. We reviewed your site and are unable to include it in Google News at this time. We can't include sites that don't have a formal editorial-review process for submitted content. If this exists on your site, please let us know where and we'll be happy to review your site again. Mainstreetmonroe is scheduled to be removed from Google News for a period of at least 30 days. After this 30-day period has elapsed, you can re-apply for inclusion in Google News provided your site meets our guidelines. We appreciate your assistance in this matter. Please note that you'll still be able to find your site in Google Web Search and other Google services. Thanks for your interest in Google News. Regards, The Google News Team What exactly do they mean? I submitted my website news section, but they have been displaying our forum area in the news too. I think the forum is what GN is talking about. What is the best way to fix this problem? Move the forum to a subdomain? Website: http://www.mainstreetmonroe.com/ Forum: http://www.mainstreetmonroe.com/Voice/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=2
Content Development | | JohnBeagle0