Google is Encouraging Bad Behavior By Not Listing Updated Content Dates

Google has a problem with not parsing updated content dates in search results.

The page above is my Difference Between URLs and URIs post, which I originally wrote in 2005—yes—but I’ve massively updated it several times. And just recently I updated it again, including with a new primary image.

Yet Google insists on putting other posts higher in search rankings because they were created or updated more recently—according to them.

Here’s the problem: I’m being too honest.

I currently show two dates for all my posts: the original creation date, and the updated date. And I keep hoping that Google will pick up the updated date.

Other sites don’t do this. They cheat (sort of) by just listing the updated date.

I did that for a while because I thought it was the proper way, and my search rankings went way up!

Wow, so now everything is brand new content! Yay! Except, no. It’s not. I want to show the evolution of my thinking on certain things, and it’s useful to see that your first thoughts on it were back in the internet’s infancy.

So Google is basically making me choose between truth and accuracy on one side, and good search placement on the other.

That’s not how the internet should work.

If anyone knows a solution to this, or someone at Google who can help fix it. Please let me know.

Notes


Ok, thanks to my SEO guru friend Thomas Zickell, I found out the way to do this is by updating the schema.org code to include dateModified, and I’ve now done that via a plugin. We’ll see if that works!

—

If you get value from this content, you can support it directly by becoming a member. Being a member gets you access to the newsletter every week instead of just twice a month, access to the UL Slack Channel, the UL Book Club, the UL Archives, and access to future member-only content.