How to Date and Version a Page for Answer Engines

Dates matter here for a specific reason: a large share of what gets written about software has an expiry, and nothing on the page says so. A pricing claim from 2023 reads identically to one from last week unless the page says otherwise.

Three different dates

Put it where the fact is

A page-level date qualifies the whole page equally, which is wrong — the conceptual sections age slowly and the pricing table ages in weeks. Dating the volatile parts inline is more accurate and survives extraction, since a table row carrying its own as-of date is still true when lifted out.

What counts as an update

A fact changed, a conclusion changed, or a section was added or removed. Not: a typo, a new internal link, a re-run of a build. The distinction matters because if 'updated' includes trivial edits, the date stops carrying information, and a reader who learns that cannot use any of your dates afterwards.

The practice that makes dates worthless

Refreshing the displayed date on a schedule to look current. It is common, it is understandable, and it is the reason dates are widely discounted as a signal. It also fails the only test that matters — if someone checks whether anything actually changed, they find nothing, and now the whole site's dating is suspect rather than just that page's. We would rather show an honest older date than a dishonest recent one.

Version the claims that move

For pages whose conclusions change — comparisons, pricing, capability claims — a short changelog at the bottom is worth more than a date. Three lines: what changed, when, why. It gives a reader a reason to trust the current version and gives you a record of when a claim was true, which is what you need when someone quotes an old one back at you.

FAQ

Does a visible date help with citations? — It is not something we can demonstrate, and we would rather say so than imply a mechanism we cannot show. The defensible reason to do it is that it is true and useful to readers, and that undated volatile facts are a liability regardless of how any engine treats them.

Should old pages be deleted or dated? — Dated, mostly, with the caveat stated plainly at the top if the content is out of date and you are not maintaining it. Deleting breaks links; leaving it undated misleads. Saying 'this describes the 2024 pricing and has not been updated' costs nothing and is honest.

How often should we re-check? — Tie it to how fast the underlying fact moves. Vendor pricing needs a quarterly pass; a conceptual explanation may need one a year. Recording the checked date is what makes that schedule visible rather than theoretical.