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Google Says Only Update The Date When Making Significant Update To Content

Published

1 year ago

December 10, 2022

Google Says Only Update The Date When Making Significant Update To Content

It is that time of year when content creators take their content that has been performing well and updates it from the 2022 edition to the 2023 edition. But updating the references of 2022 to 2023 is not enough, and Google says only do that when you make a significant update to that content.

This topic comes up every year, SEOs who go by some sort of SEO script, by default just do it, they just update the 2022 editions to the 2023 editions with some minor tweaks to the content. But again, Google has been warning against relabling old content as new for years, saying only update the dates when there is a significant change to the content. Google even said that most evergreen content does not require any date changes at all.

So the topic came up again, let’s call it the 2023 edition. John Mueller of Google was asked about it on Twitter and said “Is there significantly new content? Then update the dates. Is there no significantly new content? Then don’t update the dates. We see a lot of spam & low-quality content that just arbitrarily updates dates (“Best fax machine for 2023″), it’s pretty obvious & embarrassing.” He did add “There’s nothing wrong with updating content, and when you make significant changes, updating the date (or using an update-date). Serious sites do that. Just tweaking, and saying “oh, still valid in 2023″ is not a significant update.”

Here are those tweets:

Is there significantly new content? Then update the dates. Is there no significantly new content? Then don’t update the dates. We see a lot of spam & low-quality content that just arbitrarily updates dates (“Best fax machine for 2023”), it’s pretty obvious & embarassing.
— John Mueller is mostly not here 🐀 (@JohnMu) November 26, 2022

There’s nothing wrong with updating content, and when you make significant changes, updating the date (or using an update-date). Serious sites do that. Just tweaking, and saying “oh, still valid in 2023” is not a significant update.
— John Mueller is mostly not here 🐀 (@JohnMu) November 29, 2022
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But I am sure you will hear, but it works – sure – it might. But this is a great opportunity to make the 2022 version significantly better – so maybe use that opportunity?

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Source: www.seroundtable.com

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 29, 2024

Published

1 day ago

April 30, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google’s March 2024 core update completed on April 19th, Google just didn’t confirm it until a week later. Google said its spam reporting tool will add site reputation abuse after May 5. Google responded to concerns over the Chrome IP masking and how it will impact advertisers. Google Knowlwdge Panels has translated sections. Apple Business Connect gains actions with links. Google AI is writing some knowledge panels. I am offline today, all these stories were pre-written and scheduled, including this newsletter.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google March 2024 Core Update Finished April 19th (A Week Ago)

The Google March 2024 core update finished a week ago and Google did not tell us until today. It finished officially on April 19, 2024, and took 45 days to roll out after starting on March 5, 2024. Google also said this helped reduce low-quality and unoriginal content in search results by 45%, which is up from their estimate of 40%.

Google Spam Reporting Tool To Gain Site Reputation Abuse

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said that the search company will add the upcoming site reputation abuse policy to the spam reporting tool when the policy begins to be enforced. So sometime after May 5, 2024, the report spam form will gain a new option to report site reputation abuse.

Google Responds To Concerns Over Chrome IP Masking

A week ago, Anu Adegbola wrote a fabulous piece on some new privacy changes that may be coming to Google Chrome in the future named Chrome IP masking and how that may impact advertisers. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, responded to those concerns, saying, “Chrome has not made any recent updates to its IP protection proposal.”

Google Knowledge Panel With Auto-Translated Texts

Google is auto-translating some of the content within the Google Knowledge Panels and blocks. So if you are in a location where you don’t only speak English, Google may show you your local language as an additional block of text in the knowledge panel.

Apple Business Connect Actions: Add Links To Apple Maps Local Listing

Apple Business Connect now lets you add links to your local listings that show up in Apple Maps. This is under the “actions” section that enables customers to order food, buy tickets, schedule an appointment, and more.

Google AI Writing Some Search Knowledge Panels

Google has for a long time used AI to write some knowledge panels. But now Google is labeling some of these AI written knowledge panels with “Al overviews are experimental” as a disclaimer. This may show up for both SGE and non-SGE results, I believe.

Google Maps Pigeon People

I am not sure where this first started but in Japan there is this group of people who dress up as pigeons when the Google Maps street view cameras drive by.

Programming Note: Offline For Last Days Of Passover

This is a programming note that I will be completely offline for the last days of the Passover holiday. The last days of Passover are on Monday and Tuesday, April 29th and 30th. Any stories published here will be scheduled and written beforehand and not posted live.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.

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Offline For Last Days Of Passover 5784

Published

2 days ago

April 29, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

This is a programming note that I will be completely offline for the last days of the Passover holiday. The last days of Passover are on Monday and Tuesday, April 29th and 30th. Any stories published here will be scheduled and written beforehand and not posted live.

I will be completely offline, so any social media posts, tweets, anything coming from this site or my social channels are all scheduled beforehand.

I won’t be able to reply to comments, remove spam or break any stories on those days. I will catch up when I get back online.

Feel free to check out the archives or catch up with the weekly videos or just browse the search pics. Oh, and if you have nothing to do, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

For more on this holiday, check out Wikipedia.

For all those celebrating the holiday – have a good one and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 26, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 28, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Publisher Center removes the ability to add publications manually. Google is testing placing the snippet date next to the URL. Google now shows IP ranges for user-triggered fetchers. Google Ads has a new warning for low keyword quality. Google and Microsoft impress with earnings reports. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap. Also, I am offline Monday and Tuesday for the last days of Passover.