QA finding
A date on the page contradicts the calendar or the page's own history
QA Warning Severity: Medium
Part of the audit Dates that contradict the calendar or each other. Finding id: qa.staleDates.
What it costs you
A visitor who sees a past event, an expired offer or a passed deadline presented as current concludes the site is not looked after, and doubts the rest of it. Some act on it and come to an event that is over.
What to do
Remove or archive the item, or correct the date. Mark sections where past dates are expected with the archive_like parameter.
What it checks
- Past event shown as upcoming
- Expired offer still promoted
- Copyright year differs between page layouts
- Claims recent update with no change
- Deadline has passed
How to fix it
Show the date of the last real edit
- Find where the template takes the 'updated' date from.
- Make it use the time the content was last edited, not the time the page was built or the cache was refreshed.
How to check: Rebuild the page without editing it: the date stays the same.
Print the copyright year from the date
- Open the template named in the finding and find the copyright line.
- Replace the typed year with the current year from the server date, or use the shared footer the other templates use.
How to check: Crawl the site again. Every template shows the same year.
Remove, archive or correct
- Past event or deadline: move the item to an archive section, or take it off lists of coming items.
- Expired offer: end the promotion on the page and update the end date in the structured data.
- If past dates are expected in a section, set the archive_like parameter to its address pattern.
How to check: Crawl the site again. The page no longer appears in this rule.
Thresholds
| Name | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
archive_like | %/archive/% | SQL LIKE pattern for URLs where past dates are expected (archive, press releases of earlier years). Dates on these pages are not reported. |
min_gap_days | 30 | A page is returned when its stated 'updated' date lies at least this many days after the last change the crawler saw. |
How to verify by hand
A person; archive pages are the usual exception.
What this relies on
A past date presented as future is an oversight.