Google claims that it shows dates in organic search snippets when its algorithm determines they would be relevant and helpful. In reality, dates are extremely common and have a big impact on click-throughs.
I tend to click on newer results. According to Ignite Visibility, a marketing firm, roughly 50% of searchers are like me: Dates in search snippets are either “important” or “very important” click-through factors.
Dates and SEO
Google offers clear guidelines as to how to communicate dates to its algorithm:
- Choose a standard date format and select your time zone. WordPress, for example, makes it easy.
- Use structured data such as Schema.org to make it even more apparent. The Yoast WordPress plugin offers that option.
- Including a publish date and time increases the chances of appearing in Google News and Google Discover.
But it’s recent dates that drive clicks. What happens when dates inside a search snippet are outdated? First, never hide dates, even older ones. And avoid stale dates for key content by keeping it updated.
Don’t hide dates. Unless it is a static page — e.g., About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy — dates are helpful to searchers. And Google will emphasize it if it helps a searcher. Transparency to Google builds trust, which drives rankings. Moreover, removing older dates is pointless, according to Google’s John Mueller in a May 2021 tweet, stating “Even when you publish something without a date, Google still keeps time.”
Update content. If an old date in a...
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