Should You Timestamp Your Blog Posts?

This post is based on Episode 58 of the ProBlogger podcast.

As you know, I have two blogs – ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. But that’s about all they have in common. They cover different topics and are aimed at different target groups.

But there is another way in which they differ from each other. ProBlogger posts include the date they were published, while Digital Photography School posts do not.

What raises the question: should you time stamp your blog posts?

And like so many blogging questions, the best answer I can give you is “It depends”.

The pros and cons of dating

If you time stamp your blog posts (even date only), your readers will know when they were written. It helps them decide how relevant the information is when they come across it. For them, a current or current article may seem more attractive than one written years ago.

In most cases, it’s a good thing to include the publication date in your posts, especially if you regularly create new content. But what about evergreen content? By definition, it is always up to date whether the topic itself is timeless or kept up to date. However, your readers may be distracted when they see the date they were originally published.

Many of the evergreen posts at the Digital Photography School were written in 2007. And some people have complained about how old these posts are, although the content is still completely relevant. (You can use the comments to see when they were first published.)

Unfortunately, some readers will take a look at this release date and automatically assume that the content is out of date, no matter how relevant and useful it may be.

Of course, time stamping your evergreen content can be beneficial if the date is still fairly current. When we see a post that was written last month, we’re psychologically more open to the content because it’s fresh – even if it’s the same idea they wrote about in 2006.

As you can see, time stamping your blog posts definitely has advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the release date, they may appear to be up to date or outdated.

Decision time

Should you time stamp your blog posts or not? Before you decide, I suggest that you ask yourself a question: “Will the date be relevant in any way to Swiss Post?”

Answering this question led me in different directions with my two blogs.

As I said, at ProBlogger we have data for all of our blog posts. One reason for this is that the blogging landscape is constantly changing. The tools, social media networks, and search engine optimization principles we use now are very different from those from 2006. And I think it’s important to time stamp these posts so our readers know if the information is still there are relevant.

The other reason why ProBlogger posts are timestamped is to tell the story of my trip. When I started the blog, I was (and still am) on a very steep learning curve. And I wrote a lot of these early posts with little experience to back them up. So I wanted to show how much my knowledge has grown over the years and show the path of my own development on this particular topic.

However, none of the blog posts at the Digital Photography School have a time stamp, since in almost all cases the date is not relevant for the post. The only time we post messages remotely is to check a new camera. And for these we will include the date on which it was published in the actual content.

The main focus of the website is on teaching people how to take better photos and get their cameras out of automatic mode. And while cameras always seem to come out with new features, the principles of photography (if any) haven’t changed significantly.

Many of the posts I wrote in 2007 dealt with aperture, shutter speed, ISO and holding the camera. And this information is just as relevant today as it was then. The fate of these posts would only distract the reader.

Occasionally someone will ask when a particular post was written. In this case, I’m more than happy to tell you. But in general, I don’t get many complaints that I don’t have any data on our website.

Make a compromise

Still not sure if you should time stamp your blog posts? Here are some options you could try as a compromise.

You can view the date your post was posted at the end of your blog post and not at the beginning. In this way, your reader will only know how old your content is after reading it. This gives you a better chance of helping them.

Another option is to display the date in smaller text or in a lighter color so that it is not so noticeable. It is still there, but your readers may not notice it.

I’ve also seen some blogs where data is automatically removed from posts that are older than a few months. I’m not sure if you’re using a plugin that has changed the WordPress code on your website, but it’s a good way to do it. Your recent posts seem to be more recent because their release date is relatively new. And your older posts don’t appear to be old since there is no date you can “age” them.

You can also view the data for each post on your homepage and / or archive categories, but not on the posts themselves. Users can still browse your categories to determine what’s current and what’s not. However, the publication date is not shown if you end up in your post via Google search.

What is your answer?

I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to respond that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I think they can be useful in some situations and harmful in others. My advice is to think about whether they are relevant to your posts and continue from there.

Are you currently stamping your blog posts with a timestamp? Are you going to change anything after reading what I said? Let us know what you’re doing in the comments.

Photo by Djim Loic on Unsplash