Publish Date, Last Updated, Query Deserves Freshness, & Google Fresh Rank

Ryuzaki said:
I checked some of those results. It's Javascript and JSON objects being exposed within visible HTML for one of two reasons: 1) They broke their HTML code so everything past the error is rendering or 2) They pasted their JS scripts into <div style="display:none;"> instead of <script> tags.
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking into this, and you're right. To be honest I'm a bit baffled, especially by this one
PHP: 
<div style="display:none;">
        WP_Query Object
    (
        [query] => Array
            (
                [post_type] => producten
                [posts_per_page] => 12
                [paged] => 1
                [post_status] => publish
                [orderby] => menu_order
                [order] => ASC
                [suppress_filters] => 0
            )

        [query_vars] => Array
            ( ...
Guess there is an opportunity to make some quick cash if needed...

On topic

Google prefers JSON-LD, at least according to their own docs. Would be nice to test this and see what result you'll get with leaving the JSON output from Yoast in tact.

And at the risk of offending you, at the moment I'm thinking of implemente this. Just want to make sure that the theme displays the original date ( if ! ) or displays the changed date when it, well, changed.

For now I prioritize the ( if ) clause, because I expect changes to happen more then leaving the articles "as is."

PHP: 
<?php
if ( get_the_modified_time( get_option( 'date_format' ) ) !== get_the_time( get_option( 'date_format' ) ) ) :
    ?>
    <span class="meta meta-modified">
        <span class="screen-reader-text"><?php esc_html_e( 'Post modification date', 'themename' ); ?></span>
        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_modified_time( get_option( 'date_format' ) ); ?></a>
    </span>
    <?php
else :
    ?>
    <span class="meta">
        <span class="screen-reader-text"><?php esc_html_e( 'Post date', 'themename' ); ?></span>
        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_time( get_option( 'date_format' ) ); ?></a>
    </span>
    <?php
endif;
?>
 
@DanSkippy, your last code block is what I do in the HTML. I previously was removing all mentions of published or modified date in the Open Graph schema though. I'm going to leave it now as a test and see if I can still get Google to trigger freshness.

In your code block, you don't need to do an if check to see if the modified date matches the published date. The published date will never change unless you manually change it. When you first publish, it will match the modified date. But when you update a post (without manually changing the published date), the modified date updates (and the published date doesn't). So if you choose to only display the modified date, it'll match the publish date until you update the post.

Oh, though... I see that you're changing the label from "Post date" to "Post modification date". I just start with "Last updated" and leave it that way, because it's also true even if it's only the publish date that hasn't been modified yet.

Either way gets the job done. Yours is a bit spiffier in that you change the label.
 
Ryuzaki said:
"Last updated" and leave it that way, because it's also true even if it's only the publish date that hasn't been modified yet.
Click to expand...
True. Haven't thought about that. Guess I like to geek-out a bit to much...

Ryuzaki said:
Yours is a bit spiffier in that you change the label.
Click to expand...
Thanks, but I still have a long way to go to out-spiffy you, Sensei.
 
I disable Yoast schema completely with this and hardcode it with WP functions myself

Code: 
// Disable YOAST Schema
add_filter( 'wpseo_json_ld_output', '__return_false' );
 
It baffles me you guys are still using Yoast.

IMHO Yoast is an inferior SEO plugin.

I'm using The SEO Framework or SEOpress on my sites. Check them out, you won't regret it.
 
FYI I believe Google now shows the last modified date in serps even if you have the published data in schema (before it would show the published). On this basis I have re-added published date to all my schema.
 
Darth said:
FYI I believe Google now shows the last modified date in serps even if you have the published data in schema (before it would show the published). On this basis I have re-added published date to all my schema.
Click to expand...
Co-signed. They seem to have gotten over their confusion, and it's probably because the schema disambiguated it for them. Before hand, you could mention a date on the page and there was a chance they'd pick up and use the wrong one, even if it was crazy and off the mark like the year 1872 or something.
 
Interesting you guys are finding this, we just turned RankMath's schema section on after having only LastModified date for the longest time. Google's gone and listed it all with DatePublished dates instead. As most content is not published this year (but was modified within the last few months) we've lost a lot of top rankings/rich snippets.
 
are you still removing the date and just adding last updated?
 
I also set the WP rendered content to display last modified date, while still having both published date & last modified in meta and schema.

However what concerns me is that, for example, now I'm doing some edits to all posts (I'm doing the Kitchen Sink Method), so many older posts that have minor edits display a recent date.

For example if I'm just shortening the title of a not-very-evergreen post from 2020, is it acceptable to have Last Updated: [current date], displayed?

I just made this change yesterday (less than 24h), so I'm thinking I should change it back to displaying the published date, and re-enable after finishing edits to all posts.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
@nicemkay, it's perfectly fine. You looked over the content, found a change to make, made the change. It means you're still involved with the content, still editing it, still refining its value. It's what the Last Updated date is for. It's not abusive to use it how it's intended to be used.

As far as I'm aware, Google's never qualified what a "valid post update" looks like to justify updating the Last Updated date.

In my opinion, if I was to read every single post on one of my sites, deem each worthy to remain as they are, and make zero changes, I still think I'm justified in updated the Last Updated date for every single post. It got a review and is now up-to-date again.

With my ultimate point being not to let imaginary arguments with Google stop you from running your site how you see fit. We can't anticipate every little thing they'll do. I just try to reason through it like I did above and see if what I'm doing is sensible and "real world". If it is, then I do it because in cases like this one Google wants to measure the real world, not manipulate it.
 
@Ryuzaki This makes sense. I was on the fence because, as you put it, I was having imaginary arguments with Google and became hesitant, even though to me it was the sensible thing to do.

Thanks a lot!
 
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