Maintain accurate and visible publication and modification dates.
- Maintain accurate and visible publication and modification dates1 cited source1 category
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Why this matters
Freshness cues help AI engines assess content currency and decide citation trustworthiness.
Hypothetical standard operating procedure
Adapt this example to your site, access, tools, and change process. It is our suggested procedure, informed by the sources below.
- Add visible date stamps on page for publication and last update.
- Update dateModified schema only when substantive changes occur.
- Implement periodic review workflow, e.g., every 90 days.
- Highlight outdated content with banners or unpublish if necessary.
- Ensure sitemap lastmod matches content updates.
Watch for
Hidden or outdated dates cause AI engines to prefer fresher competing pages.
Definition of done
All pages show Last reviewed and Last updated dates; dateModified schema matches material changes.
Sources & attribution
Original checklist wording and example SOP by Best SEO Checklist, using source-grounded AI assistance. Editorial contact: Ted Kubaitis, @tedkubaitis on Teams. Check current source guidance before implementation.