What it measures

This metric evaluates the publication or last-modified date found in your page's metadata — including meta tags, JSON-LD structured data, and Open Graph article timestamps.

Why it matters for AI

AI systems use dates to determine content recency and decide whether to cite your page for time-sensitive queries. A page about "best AI tools in 2021" will be deprioritised in favour of a 2024 version. Missing dates are worse than old dates — at least old dates give AI something to work with.

Last updated	Score	AI treatment
Within 90 days	7.5–10/10	Actively preferred for current topics
90–365 days	0–7.5/10	Score declines linearly over the year
> 365 days	0/10	Score bottoms out for content over a year old
No date found	5/10 (neutral)	AI cannot assess freshness — score defaults to midpoint

How to improve

1. Add article:published_time OG meta tag — <meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-03-01T10:00:00Z" />
2. Add article:modified_time OG meta tag — Update this every time you revise the content
3. Include datePublished and dateModified in JSON-LD — The most reliable way for AI to read dates
4. Regularly review and update content — Even minor updates reset the "modified" date