Should You Put a Date on Your Content? Here’s What You Should Know

If you have been reading articles from websites, you might have noticed that they often have dates at the beginning of the said posts. It usually indicates the date when the article is published. Some even update older posts when necessary, shown in the same content. Nonetheless, your website should contain quality content for your target audience and ensure that your digital marketing strategy will help you achieve your business goals. 

The question now is, should you put a date on your posts? We all know how evergreen content can remain relevant even if the content was published several years ago. But it depends on the industry you’re working for. In digital marketing, trends come and go. Here’s what you should know about putting dates or not on your blogs. 

 

Should you put a date on your blog posts? 

There’s this ongoing debate about whether to put a date on blog posts or leave it as is. There are pros and cons of putting a date on blog posts, and there’s no right or wrong whatever you decide to do. 

Adding a date on your blog post means the actual publication date of the said post. But since we are living in the Internet era, anything is possible. You can post days, weeks, or even months before the real publishing date. This is called backdating. It might sound sketchy, but it should not be a big deal. 

In reality, many writers and marketers do this for several reasons. One of these reasons is for archive purposes. Some website owners do this to make the site look older and established in the industry. You can also backdate if a competitor published similar content and make it look like you have written about it way before them. 

Google knows that published dates can be changed, but it’s not that the search engine sanctions websites that do this. Still, Google finds ways to ensure this strategy will not be abused. Time decay is not a big deal in search marketing. According to a study, posts published 2 to 3 years ago can still rank on search engine results. 

This shows that older content doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant anymore. Some older content can still rank high on Google and offer valuable and timeless insights. It won’t also hurt your SEO whether you put dates on your content or not. 

However, some people do care about dates. Readers often prefer recent content to those published 2 or 3 years ago. Then again, it depends on the topic you are looking for. For evergreen content, say, parenting or starting a business, dates often do not matter. But in digital marketing, where trends come and go, published dates on blogs can be important. 

 

Takeaway 

It is up to the site owner whether to put a published date in each blog post. Then again, it depends on the topic. For digital marketing topics, where trends come and go, the more recent the publishing date, the more readers will prefer your content. Nonetheless, quality content is just as important. A digital marketing expert in Franklin, TN, can help you with your content marketing strategy.