Does updating the publish date actually help, or is it a cheat?

Does updating the publish date actually help, or is it a cheat?

Q: People say change the date to get a boost. Real or risky?

A: Short answer: only when the content genuinely changed. Longer answer: a news-adjacent blog tested it on 30 posts. On 15, they bumped the date AND did substantial rewrites (new stats, removed dead links, fresh examples). On the other 15, they changed only the date with no real edits. The genuinely-updated 15 gained an average of 5 positions and a "freshness" bump in 6 weeks. The date-only 15? No movement — and two slipped, likely because Google re-crawled and saw nothing new to justify the freshness signal. Date changes work when they're honest. Faking it does nothing or backfires.

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