tedster
msg:4267355 | 3:05 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
On the face of it, it sounds like a little of both: an attempt to manipulate a bug in how Google stores dates. You can't know for sure, especially based on just one instance.
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indyank
msg:4267414 | 4:35 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
But does google consider the dates entered by website owners for storing page dates? I was never sure on how google discovers dates for a page! Sometimes a page gets indexed much later but still google used the original published date!
I also notice that for some pages google displays the dates in the results while for others it doesn't.Why is it so?
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piatkow
msg:4267427 | 4:55 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
Are these dates from the same time zone?
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Receptional Andy
msg:4267434 | 5:01 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
The dates in result snippets seems to almost always come from a date written to the page itself in a readable format. Which, of course, can be anything!
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frank72
msg:4267508 | 7:10 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
Are these dates from the same time zone?
No, the time zone is different but I calculcated it before posting here my finding. However the article was written yesterday but the time stamp reported it was written two days ago...
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jakegotmail
msg:4267524 | 7:28 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
I would go with a little of both as well. In fact, one could argue that their site being stronger than yours played into their #1 ranking more than the older date on the article did.
It's no secret that Google wants to see fresh content on hot topics though, so showing a date after a competitor might not necessarily be a bad thing in some situations.
I've seen many instances where Google will grab any date on a page and use it as a published date. In cases where that date is old (even just 2010), it can make the article look outdated and suffer accordingly; whether that's via Google in dropping off the first page, or user with a lower CTR.
That is a bug that I'd be interested in them fixing.
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g1smd
msg:4267541 | 8:01 pm on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0) |
Content published in the UK from midnight to 8 a.m. UK time is sometimes credited with the previous days date.
Sometimes the assigned date is that as used in California, not that where the content was published.
Be aware of the time and date being served in the HTTP header. That may have a bearing on things, especially if you are hosted in some other country, different to whatever the domain TLD might hint.
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