There are over 1.13 billion websites on the web. But these are not static, as their content constantly updates because the audience always wants current and relevant information. What are the parameters to check this aspect? So, there are numerous ways to find when a respective website was last updated, which we will discuss here in this blog!
Relevant Dates For a Published Web Page
Several dates, such as its creation or modification, are associated with a web page publication. It’s deep understanding will help you assess the relevance and reliability of the presented information. So, here we go!
🠊 Published Date :
The “Published Date” is when the content on the respective webpage was first published on the Internet and made available to the public. Simply put, it’s the day when the content is officially released or uploaded.
🠊 Last Modified Date :
The “Last Modified Date” indicates the last time the content was updated, revised, or edited. SERPs consider this factor in determining the ranking of a webpage in search results.
🠊 Indexed Date :
The “Indexed Date” is when a search engine, such as Google or Bing, first discovers and adds a specific web page to its database or index. It marks the point when a search engine officially recognizes the existence of a particular web page. There are free SEO tools for Auditing and monitoring your website, which can be used to find different ranking factors.
Ways To Find When a Website Was Last Updated?
1. By Viewing The Source Code
1. By Viewing The Source Code🠊 The first and most common method on the list for checking the date of a web page is by viewing the source code. Numerous free tools are available on the Internet, one of which is Keycdn.
🠊 All you have to do is paste the website URL and hit the check button. Then, a list will appear in which the mid part will be “last-modified,” where you can clearly see the date with time, as shown in the image below.
There is one more alternative way to view the HTTP protocol.
🠊 Start by right-clicking on the webpage and choosing the “View Page Source” option or press “CTRL+U.” Then, an image will appear, as shown below.
🠊 You can find the published date information named “article:modified_time” under <meta> tags, which are in the <head> section of the page.
If you didn’t find the information in one go, as it is a bit confusing, press the “Ctrl+F” button and type “date,” “modified,” or “update.”
2. By Using Google Cache
🠊 Head to Sitechecker and paste the website URL to view the web page’s last modified date and time. It is Google Cache Checker that checks the last date when Google cached the website.
🠊 You can also directly view the cached data by conducting a Google search for the specific web page. Hover over the search result & you’ll notice a small downward arrow on the right side. Click on the “Cached” label to view the web page version stored in Google’s cache.
3. By Using XML Sitemap
Every website has its XML sitemap used by search engines to understand the content organization. Using an XML sitemap is another method for gathering information about a web page’s last modification or update date.
Here are the steps that need to be followed!
🠊 Locate the XML Sitemap by using the URL like: “https://websitename.com/sitemap.xml.” For instance, type https://w3speedup.com/sitemap_index.xml, and a page will appear as shown below. It’s a structured file that lists URLs and additional information about each page.
🠊 As you can see above, the XML Sitemap Index file contains five sitemaps with the content modification date.
4. By Google Search
🠊 A date often appears on the search results page right inside the meta tag. This is the last indexed date, almost equal to that web page’s last updated date.
But it is worth remembering that the date will only appear for some search results.
If you wish to see the number, use the Google search operator or add a special parameter at the end of the search bar. Go to the address bar, add “&as_qdr=y15”, and click enter. This variable is used by Google to perform an advanced date search, which indicates ‘d[x]’ for days, ‘w[x]’ for weeks, or ‘y[x]’ for years. These can be customized according to your specific requirements and goals.
As soon as the results load, you can see the indexed date in front of the meta description for each page.
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5. By Viewing The Blog Post Date
Some website display their blog post publication or last update date near the the top of the post. (Just like we do!) This helps users gauge the most accurate and relevant information.
6. By Using the Command URL
The next method to find a web page’s last updated date is by adding a brief JavaScript snippet to the HTTP string in the address bar. To initiate the process, write “javascript: alert(document.lastModified).”
After you click “Enter,” the browser will prompt a JavaScript alert containing the last modified date of the webpage.
Here, we have got you an alternative option as well. Right-click on the webpage, “Inspect,” to open the Developer Tools, navigate to the “Console” tab, and write the same JavaScript code. Instantly, you can see the last modified date, but the time stamp will not be accurate as it depends on various factors, such as CMS type, if the data is updated in the metadata or sitemap.
Quick Information: This method will only work for static web pages.
7. By Using The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive, with its Wayback Machine, contains millions of web page data that can be used to get the last updated date. Here’s how to use this!
🠊 Open the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
🠊 Now, write the webpage URL, press “Enter,” and you will see a calendar-like image with blue dots as shown here.
🠊 These dots indicate the snapshots demonstrating the first indexed date to the last found date. However, these numbers are not accurate and displayed according to the last crawling from the Wayback Machine crawler.
Conclusion
To conclude, there are numerous ways to get details about when a website was last updated. HTTP header and XML Sitemap methods are the best ones as they show accurate data, while others give approximate estimates. So, use them and always stay up-to-date with the latest information.
We hope this blog will prove helpful for you! Happy Reading!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. How can I find when a website was last updated?
A1. There are numerous ways to find when a website was last updated, including:
- Look for the publication date on the blog post.
- By Google cache
- Through source code, XML Sitemap, Command URL, and so on.
Q2. How often a website is updated?
A2. There is no fixed timeline for how often a website is updated; like blog posts require frequent updates while landing or service pages do not need that frequent updation.
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