Semalt Expert Tells How Risky Is It To Change Your Article Dates For SEO

Why bother changing the article date in the first place? First off, googles Martin Splitt has explained that it is preferable to update an old page than recreate a new page for very similar content. When you do not want to update a web page completely, some web managers manipulate the content date, which is an effective way to score some points in SERP.  

 

Because keyword research is dependent on the freshest sources of information, just changing the date on articles gives them a better chance. Users will also look for the most recent source of information. 

This makes regularly updating your content or, in this case, changing the date on your content has twofold benefits.

The first is that it appeals to the users because we will prefer to go for the most recent and up to date information. This means the recent content gets you more CTR, which is an important SEO metrics.

  

The second benefit depends on the competitive vertical of the search engine. Some advanced search engines such as Google recognize that recent contents play a paramount role in providing relevant information to their readers. No reader will open an article of SEO tips on how to optimize that was published in 2015. So google doesn't get into its SERP. 

Of course, a solution as simple as changing the date on web content seems like foul play. This is most likely why you're here. It is important to learn of the damages this can bring and if it will damage the trustworthiness of your site.

Since we are talking about changing the dates of an article, it is important you learn of the two different types of article date updates. We have:

John Muller, in his comment, seems to indicate that even a massive date update for individual pages would not harm a website's SEO efforts. When discussing the sitemap, however, things are a bit different. Google's sitemap states that a page's <lastmod> value has to be represented accurately. If it's not, google can stop reading it.  

To buttress this point, according to ShoutMeLoud's recent updated study, the best practice for article dates is to show both the original publication date and the last updated date. 

When you let search engine bots crawl through the publishing dates of your webpages, you are likely to lose out in ranking. But if you want to stop this from happening, you should show them specifically to your viewers.  

In a nutshell, if you're discussing your publishing dates that end up on the actual page of your website, then you should hide those from search engines. To make up for this, you should then show users both the date of the original publication and the date it was last modified. On your site map, you should also always flag the changes to the primary content to avoid getting penalized. 

Take, for example, a random website; on that website, some posts existed, and they get updated. That includes the publication date. We would recommend that you should never change the dates on your posts without making significant changes to the post itself. 

With a Google showing dates that articles were published, humans will be more likely to go for the new. To stop websites from taking undue advantage, Google frowns at manipulating only the dates of your content to make them look fresh. 

Many times, website owners change the dates on their contents to make them appear fresh but little do they know that "keeping your content fresh, goes far beyond changing the date on the content." at least that's Google's opinion on the matter. 

Many factors are considered when determining a fresh content. Some of these factors include:

Yeah! Writing new content can suck, but when we rewrite or modify the content, two of the three factors above naturally fall in place. With modification, you change enough information in the content, and you are bound to add new links. Two birds, one very big stone.

 

When an article is published is only one of several factors considered. Changing that alone doesn't make your content fresh. What matters is the quality additions you've made to the "old" existing page. 

There are three main strategies you can employ to breathe fresh life into your old content. All these strategies hinge on one principle, which is that: "your content should be timeless, relevant and valuable." 

This is a common strategy used to add more value to posts that were show stoppers in their prime. Typically, you can do this by either supplementing the article's original publication date with the "last updated"date stamp or publishing an updated date beneath the original date.  

This strategy is used by many websites, and it is so effective because outdated information is bad for users. When you have a post that is ranking No1, but it is old, it makes perfect sense to update it. Remember that you mustn't write that the article has been updated with every little adjustment you make. 

Another effective strategy is publishing news as it happens. The website now has a dedicated page where they post recent live updates in their industry. On these pages, you'll see time stamps on each new entry as you post them. Live updating a single page and time-stamping every additional information to the page is one of the methods recommended by Illyes. 

Let's say you currently have three outdated and similar pages on your website. To keep your content fresh, you can merge the information in all three pages and create one broad and new content. Since those pages may have been doing well, you do not get rid of the traffic they bring. By creating a single page and combining the information in those pages, you combine their SEO driving force making the one-page rank better. You then use redirects so that people who clicked on your old page get redirected to the new and improved all on one page.  

Many people share different views on whether or not you should change the dates on your content. While some say it's an effective method, others fear the risk. Generally, it is safer not to change the date on your articles, which is why many internet managers may not agree with it. Either way, now you understand what it involves, and so you can make a well thought out decision.  No matter the strategy you choose, certain contents aren't worth updating. Contents that aren't evergreen have no business getting updated, and if you do, most times, it ends up as a wasted effort. Instead, you should update contents that are as useful today as they were the day they were published. And when you do update your content, try and treat it like a brand new content. Market it and encourage social media shares.