Content freshness (last-updated signal)What it checks and how to fix it

What it checks

Applies only to pages that look like articles. Looks for a date the page was published or last updated: a dateModified or datePublished in JSON-LD, the article:modified_time or article:published_time meta tags, or a <time datetime> element. Passes when it finds one and warns when it finds none.

Why it matters

AI assistants and search engines favour recent sources for most questions, and they can only tell how recent an article is when it says so. Readers trust dated content more as well. An undated article looks stale even when it was rewritten last week.

How to fix it

Show the dates on the page and declare them in markup. Prefer a last-updated date when you revise content.

<head>
  <meta property="article:published_time" content="2026-03-02T09:00:00+00:00">
  <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2026-06-18T14:30:00+00:00">
</head>

<p>Last updated <time datetime="2026-06-18">18 June 2026</time></p>

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "How to set up DMARC without losing email",
  "datePublished": "2026-03-02T09:00:00+00:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-06-18T14:30:00+00:00"
}
</script>

In Rails:

<time datetime="<%= @post.updated_at.iso8601 %>"><%= l(@post.updated_at.to_date, format: :long) %></time>