Blog Post Dates: Published, Updated, or Unchanged?

Keep the original publication date, record when the article actually changed, and label the date readers see according to what it means. A new modification timestamp and a prominent “Updated” label answer different questions.

This worksheet helps you choose those values for an existing article. If you still need to decide what content to change, use the refresh-or-rewrite guide first; the task here is recording the dates accurately.

Separate the Two Date Meanings

Google's Article documentation defines datePublished as first publication and dateModified as the most recent modification. These are machine-readable fields that a site's article markup may provide; they are recommended properties, not a requirement to fill a value you do not know.

Keep the original value when editing the same article. Record the actual edit separately, including what changed and the timestamp available in your records. A draft-save date, a scheduled release date and an event discussed in the article are different events; choose the date for the published article.

Choose the Visible Label Without Manufacturing Freshness

An Updated label is useful when a substantial change affects the answer: replaced instructions, a newly supported conclusion, or a revised comparison. Google's helpful-content guidance cautions against changing page dates to make content seem fresh without substantial changes.

A typo correction can leave the visible Published date alone. That does not mean an emitted dateModified should pretend the correction never happened: the field still means the latest actual modification. Decide the label and the underlying fact separately.

If your page displays a modification date, keep it consistent with the corresponding modification value in its markup. Do not change a timestamp to fit a preferred label; choose an accurate label or fix the display that misrepresents it.

Three Filled Teaching Cases

These are independent fictional teaching cases, not an edit sequence or records of a real website. All dates, events and supporting notes are invented practice inputs; the full timestamps in the download use UTC.

The third row is the important distinction: the visible publication date stays unchanged while the latest modification has a newer value. It does not claim a substantive refresh or reset the article's age.

For the substantive-update teaching case, the supplied timestamps are 2025-02-12T09:00:00+00:00 for first publication and 2026-09-20T14:30:00+00:00 for the update. Preserve those meanings even when the page displays only a calendar date. Google's byline-date guidance recommends time and timezone information in markup for precision, while the visible time is optional.

Use the Record Before Changing Your Page

Download the filled date-decision record for the complete teaching timestamps, label choices, reasons and omitted-field explanation. Use the reusable date worksheet to record your own article; it includes the same completed examples and a clearly marked row to replace with your real facts.

Fill the original publication value from your records, describe the actual change, and enter the latest modification value you can support. Keep unknown values marked as unknown in your notes instead of inventing a clock time or timezone. Check what each date control in your own publishing system means before changing it; this worksheet does not assume a particular CMS behavior.

Check the published page and its article markup together. A visible Published date should match the publication value, and a visible Last modified date should match the modification value. Google's date guidance allows publication and update dates but uses several signals to estimate a search-result date; the display you request is not guaranteed.

Finish with the date record saved beside your edit notes. For decisions about the article's search focus, return to finding the searches one page ranks for and choosing its primary keyword.