How do I install the Content Dates skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add thedaviddias/content-dates in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Content Dates safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Content Dates?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Content Dates free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Content Dates?

thedaviddias (@thedaviddias) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Content Dates by thedaviddias — Agent Skill

Name: Content Dates
Author: thedaviddias

File contents

Show published and updated dates

Google uses publication and modification dates to assess content freshness, which influences rankings for time-sensitive queries. Visible dates also build user trust by signalling that content is current and maintained.

Quick Reference

Include a visible published date and a dateModified in JSON-LD for every article or blog post
Use ISO 8601 format (2024-03-15T10:00:00Z) in structured data; human-readable in the visible UI
Update dateModified only when content meaningfully changes — not on trivial edits

Check

On each article or blog page, check: (1) Is there a visible published date in the page body or byline? (2) Does the JSON-LD Article or BlogPosting block include datePublished and dateModified properties in ISO 8601 format? (3) Does the <head> include <meta property="article:published_time"> and <meta property="article:modified_time"> Open Graph tags?

Fix

Add a visible publication date in the page byline: <time datetime="2024-03-15">March 15, 2024</time>.

Add datePublished and dateModified to the Article JSON-LD block:

{
  "@type": "Article",
  "datePublished": "2024-03-15T10:00:00Z",
  "dateModified": "2024-11-20T14:30:00Z"
}

Add Open Graph article time tags to <head>:

<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-03-15T10:00:00Z">
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-11-20T14:30:00Z">

Ensure your CMS or build system updates dateModified automatically on content saves.

Explain

Google's freshness algorithm rewards recently published or updated content for time-sensitive queries. Structured date markup lets Google confidently surface the correct date in search snippets; without it, Google must guess from page text or HTTP headers, often producing wrong or missing dates.

Code Review

Verify that Article or BlogPosting JSON-LD includes both datePublished and dateModified in ISO 8601 format. Check that <time datetime='...'> elements in the body use machine-readable dates. Confirm dateModified updates when content changes, not just on every deploy.

For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance, see references/rule.md.

Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/content-dates

---name: content-datesdescription: Use when auditing article or blog pages for date markup, generating Article JSON-LD with datePublished/dateModified, or checking whether a CMS template surfaces dates correctly.---# Show published and updated datesGoogle uses publication and modification dates to assess content freshness, which influences rankings for time-sensitive queries. Visible dates also build user trust by signalling that content is current and maintained.## Quick Reference- Include a visible published date and a `dateModified` in JSON-LD for every article or blog post- Use ISO 8601 format (`2024-03-15T10:00:00Z`) in structured data; human-readable in the visible UI- Update `dateModified` only when content meaningfully changes — not on trivial edits## CheckOn each article or blog page, check: (1) Is there a visible published date in the page body or byline? (2) Does the JSON-LD `Article` or `BlogPosting` block include `datePublished` and `dateModified` properties in ISO 8601 format? (3) Does the `<head>` include `<meta property="article:published_time">` and `<meta property="article:modified_time">` Open Graph tags?## Fix1. Add a visible publication date in the page byline: `<time datetime="2024-03-15">March 15, 2024</time>`.2. Add `datePublished` and `dateModified` to the Article JSON-LD block: ```json { "@type": "Article", "datePublished": "2024-03-15T10:00:00Z", "dateModified": "2024-11-20T14:30:00Z" } ```3. Add Open Graph article time tags to `<head>`: ```html <meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-03-15T10:00:00Z"> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-11-20T14:30:00Z"> ```4. Ensure your CMS or build system updates `dateModified` automatically on content saves.## ExplainGoogle's freshness algorithm rewards recently published or updated content for time-sensitive queries. Structured date markup lets Google confidently surface the correct date in search snippets; without it, Google must guess from page text or HTTP headers, often producing wrong or missing dates.## Code ReviewVerify that Article or BlogPosting JSON-LD includes both `datePublished` and `dateModified` in ISO 8601 format. Check that `<time datetime='...'>` elements in the body use machine-readable dates. Confirm `dateModified` updates when content changes, not just on every deploy.---For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,see `references/rule.md`.Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/content-dates

Frequently asked questions

Content Dates