In short. Visible article dates and their corresponding datePublished or dateModified values should agree and describe the article's publication or modification.

Definition: Article update dates identify when an article changes. A visible update label communicates this to readers; dateModified records the modification date in structured data, a standardized format for describing page content.

Key facts

As of 17 October 2026:

Google's publication date documentation asks for a prominent visible date and consistency between equivalent visible and structured values.
Google's Article documentation defines datePublished as first publication and dateModified as the most recent modification, using ISO 8601 date and time values.
Google's helpful content guidance flags changing dates to make pages seem fresh when their content has not substantially changed.

How should visible dates appear?

Google calls its estimate of a page's publication or significant update date a byline date. Its publication date guidance recommends prominent labels such as “Publish” or “Last updated”; either or both dates can appear.

Equivalent values must agree, including time and timezone when shown. Visible text may omit the time and timezone even when markup includes them. Dates describe the page's publication or update; event dates belong to the events described. Google uses several factors to estimate the byline date and may display it when useful.

What does dateModified contain?

Schema.org defines dateModified as the most recent modification date of a creative work, such as an article, or of an item's entry in a data feed. It accepts Date or DateTime values. For articles, Google's Article documentation specifies ISO 8601 date and time values and recommends timezone information.

This date-focused example adapts Google's article example. JSON-LD is the structured data format inside the script element. The visible dates match their corresponding properties:

<p>Published January 5, 2024 at 8:00am</p>
<p>Last updated February 5, 2024 at 9:20am</p>
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "NewsArticle",
  "headline": "Title of a News Article",
  "datePublished": "2024-01-05T08:00:00+08:00",
  "dateModified": "2024-02-05T09:20:00+08:00"
}
</script>

The example preserves separate publication and modification timestamps. The timezone appears in the markup.

How can a website check its dates?

Google's Article implementation guidance recommends the Rich Results Test to validate markup and URL Inspection to examine how Google sees a published page. The same documentation says the Rich Results Test omits warnings for the optional date properties. A passing test therefore needs a separate comparison of the visible labels and their structured values.

When Google selects an incorrect date, its publication date guidance suggests reducing other dates on the page after the recommended practices are in place.

FAQ

Should you change an update date without changing the article?

Google's helpful content guidance treats changing dates to suggest freshness without substantial content changes as a warning sign. Its self-assessment questions direct attention to original information and substantial coverage of the topic.

Must you show the time and timezone beside the article?

Google's publication date guidance permits visible dates without either, even when both appear in structured data. When you display them, keep them consistent with the corresponding markup.

Sources

Check how a page reads to answer engines. Open the GEO score analyzer