Stopped bumping 'last updated' dates without changing content. It was hurting us.

Stopped bumping 'last updated' dates without changing content. It was hurting us.

We used to flip the date to today and call it a refresh. Felt clever. Google's not dumb.

When the date says 'updated today' but the content's identical, you train Google that your dates mean nothing. Then real refreshes get ignored too.

Now the rule: date only moves when 25%+ of the body actually changes. We log the diff.

— Real refreshes now get re-crawled within days
— Fake-date posts that used to plateau started moving once we made the dates honest

Your date is a promise. Stop lying with it. Go check your last 'refresh'.