Just because it’s tradition, doesn’t mean it’s right! And in the case of dating your blog posts, there are lots more disadvantages to putting dates on your blog posts than there are advantages.
Think through your last year of blogging. What percentage of your posts really needed to have a date attached? Unless you’re a cutting edge blogger on highly time-sensitive issues, (most of us aren’t) those dates on each of your blog posts probably hurt you more than they helped you.
Hurt you? How?
Unless the visitor to your site arrives within a day of your writing the post, once they see any date other than that day’s date, they’re probably viewing that post as old or outdated…
Even if the content that you wrote is evergreen – not time-based at all!
As a consequence, they immediately, before they’ve even started reading, have been negatively predisposed against the information you are presenting in the post.
Is that what you want to burden yourself with?
I could give you lots more reasons, but I won’t.
With one exception – what if you’re a busy person who’s committed to blogging, but just doesn’t get to it every day? By putting dates on all of your posts, you clearly point that fact out to everyone else. I know, the purist bloggers are hating me for saying this, but why would you want to advertise the fact that you don’t post every day?
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are concepts that should definitely be dated. If you’re giving investment advice on which stock to buy right now, links to coupons, software updates or anything else that’s truly time-sensitive, you owe it to your audience to have a date in the post.
But, what value is there in having a date on an article on how to have a better relationship with your spouse, how to organize your closet, or the quadratic formula? To paraphrase Yoda “timeless, they are.”
So how do you get rid of the dates on your posts?
Watch this 5-minute video to learn how.
Finally, remember that not everyone agrees with this strategy – that’s terrific! Make your own choice whether you implement it or not!
Update: if you find that the solution recommended in the video doesn’t solve your problem or if you need to remove dates from comments, you can always go deeper and edit the .php files. Here’s a blog post that shows how to do that.
Do you have any other suggestions for removing dates from blog posts? Let me know by leaving a comment below. And don’t forget to like and tweet it!
I’ve received so much feedback from this post that I’ve revisted the concept here: Why NOT To Date Your Blog Posts Revisited. Check it out!
Don Crowther is a leading social media marketing and online marketing expert. He helps companies ranging from Fortune-500-level giants to entrepreneurs make more money online using proven social media and search marketing techniques.
Part 2 of previous comment. Adding anything other than the format letters won’t work. Got a lot of time information with a simple caption of my emotional state. LOL….
Great article Don! I have been blogging for a while and never thought of not dating my blog posts. Thanks for the tips
Load of nonsense – this just doesn’t work.
Very easy to implement and it took me just 2 minutes. Thanks Don.
I’ve never thought about that…now I think I should remove the date since many of my posts are evergreen. Thanks!
Hmm, this is really food for thought. Thanks for sharing this idea.
I think this is horrid advice. I can’t tell you how often I search for a date on a post when I want to add it to my article as a link and a date is not there. This drives me insane.
Blogging is publishing; since when do you read a newspaper or magazine without a date on it? Everyone wants to know your material is current, but they also want realize it’s a blog and it takes people awhile to visit.
Always, always date your blog posts.
I agree with you Jayme. Just yesterday I was looking for “how to” information and I wound up trying things that were clearly outdated. Very frustrating, indeed!
WOW!….You have just written out loud one of my biggest recurring thoughts.Often when i get to my blog site these past few months i think about it.It s something i have been thinking about how to achieve.thanks for speaking my mind…meanwhile i feel also that the idea should be open to personal choice and decision.whether one wants to do that or not is strictly up to him/her. For me and most peeps who enjoy writing but don’t get to do it in a consistent pattern,its a great relief. thanks for sharing again.
I follow your works and writtings a lot.You inspire me.Thanks
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Thank you so much for pointing me to the Date Format in Settings. I’d discovered that I can’t access PHP files to get rid of the date from the Theme, and couldn’t find a theme that didn’t display the date (at least not one I liked) but this is a good alternative. It won’t let me leave the field blank, though, but at least I can reduce it to the year (Y).
This is the WORST advice I have heard in months:
ALWAYS add a date to every thing you post online. PERIOD.
People want to know if it is current… If it is 7 months after the fact… who gives a $#it.
If your blog is timeless information for the ages, repost & repost and see if the noodles can stick… if not, move on.
I appreciate your right to disagree.
However, I still disagree.
Remember, I’m ONLY recommending that one does this if their content is EVERGREEN. Can anyone tell me a reason, other than tradition, why there would be an advantage in putting a date on an evergreen blog post? Wouldn’t that just drive people away?
Don