Which date belongs in JobPosting.datePosted?

Definition: JobPosting.datePosted is the date when the employer originally posted the job. Google requires this property in ISO 8601 format, with a calendar date or a date-time value.

Key facts

• Google's JobPosting documentation lists datePosted among the required properties for eligibility in the job experience on Google Search.
• The same documentation defines the value as the original date that the employer posted the job.
• Google's examples use 2017-01-24 and 2017-01-24T19:33:17+00:00.
• Google's code sample shows a date-only value: "datePosted": "2016-02-18".
• Schema.org describes datePosted as the publication date of an online listing and lists Date and DateTime as its expected value types.

Which date should datePosted contain?

Use the date associated with the employer's original posting of the job. Google's definition uses the word “original” and places the property in the required properties table for JobPosting. A page revision date describes a different event from the posting event that this field represents.

The schema.org definition gives the same field a broader vocabulary description: “Publication date of an online listing.” For a job page, that property belongs to the JobPosting type. The two descriptions point to the date the listing entered publication, rather than a date chosen from another page event.

What format does Google require?

Google specifies ISO 8601 format. Its date-only example is 2017-01-24, which supplies a calendar date without a time. Its date-time example is 2017-01-24T19:33:17+00:00, which includes a time and an explicit +00:00 offset.

The schema.org property accepts both Date and DateTime. That makes the two forms consistent with the vocabulary: use the date precision that the source record supports, while keeping the value in one of the documented forms.

"datePosted": "2016-02-18"

The field name and date-only value in this snippet come from Google's JobPosting example. A date-time value can carry the time and offset shown in Google's other example.

How should the property appear in structured data?

Place datePosted inside the JobPosting object that describes the individual job page. Google says the full definition of JobPosting is available at schema.org and requires the required properties for content to be eligible for display in the job experience on Google Search. Schema.org lists JobPosting among the types on which datePosted is used.

When checking the markup, compare the value with the employer's record of the original posting event, then check the syntax against Google's two examples. Keep a date-only value as a date-only value when the record supplies no time. Add a time and offset when the record supplies them.

Related terms

• How do I remove an expired job from Google's job results?
• Can JobPosting markup be added to a job search results page?
• Which HTML formatting does Google support in a job description?

FAQ

Should datePosted contain the page's latest update date?

No. The Google definition specifies the original date that the employer posted the job, so a later page edit does not match the meaning of this property.

Can datePosted contain only a calendar date?

Yes. Google gives 2017-01-24 as an example, and schema.org lists Date as an expected type for the property.

Is datePosted required for Google's job experience?

Google places datePosted in the required properties table and says required properties are needed for eligibility in the job experience on Google Search.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Learn About Job Posting Schema Markup", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "datePosted", undated

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