Short answer: Evergreen content stays useful long after you publish it: guides, how-tos and answers to questions customers keep asking. It still needs care, because facts, prices and tools change. Recheck it, update what changed, and change the date only when the content changes, with the same date on the page and in your markup.
What evergreen content is
Evergreen content answers questions that don’t expire: how to do something, what a term means, what to check before a decision. A business site’s guides, service explanations and FAQs are usually evergreen.
Its opposite is content tied to a date, such as news, event pages and limited offers. Those go stale on a known day; evergreen pages go stale slowly, one outdated fact at a time.
How Google reads the date of a page
Google estimates when a page was published or updated, and can show that date in its results when it is useful. It doesn’t guarantee it, but following its guidelines helps Google find and process your dates.
Show a visible date and label it, with text like “Published” or “Last updated”. Add datePublished and dateModified to your structured data, such as Article or BlogPosting, and keep them matching what visitors see.
The dates must describe the page itself, not the events it talks about, and never a future date. Google’s guidance on helpful content also asks whether you change dates to make pages seem fresh when the content hasn’t substantially changed.
When to change the date
| Change | New date? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New facts, a new section or corrected advice | Yes, as “last updated” | The content changed substantially |
| A typo or a broken link fixed | No | Nothing a reader relies on changed |
| An internal link added | No | The page says the same thing |
| Sources rechecked, nothing changed | No | The page is the same |
| Only the date, to look fresh | Never | Google asks about exactly this |
The first and last rows follow Google’s guidance, read November 4, 2026; the rows in between are our own rule.
How to keep evergreen content current
- List the pages people still find that could go out of date.
- Recheck their facts and sources on a schedule, and note when you did.
- Rewrite what changed: a figure, a rule, a step or a screenshot.
- Change the date only when the content changes in a way readers rely on.
- Show the date with a label, such as “Published” or “Last updated”.
- Keep datePublished and dateModified in your markup matching the dates on the page.
- Never set a future date, or the date of an event the page describes.
Our structured data guide covers the markup. Our long-tail keywords guide covers finding the questions worth their own evergreen page.
How our own guides and articles show their dates
We checked our 304 guide pages and 32 articles as a visitor on November 4, 2026. All 336 carry datePublished and dateModified in their markup.
On 302 of the 303 guide pages with a visible “Checked” date, that date matches dateModified. The exception is our oldest guide, made before our current template: its English page shows an older date, and its Spanish page shows none.
All 32 articles show a “Published” date that matches datePublished, and the 16 with an “Updated” line match dateModified. We added the “Published” label that same morning; until then the article date had none.
When we only add a link or fix a typo, the date stays as it was.
Before you republish an evergreen page
- Every figure and rule on the page is still true.
- The sources still say what the page says.
- The date changed only if the content did.
- The visible date has a label.
- The markup carries the same dates as the page.
- No date is in the future.
RememberA date tells readers how fresh the advice is. Keep the advice fresh, and let the date follow it, never the other way around.
If you want guides and service pages that stay accurate, our content marketing service can write and maintain them with you.
Quick answers about evergreen content
What is evergreen content?
Content that stays useful long after you publish it, such as a how-to, a guide or an answer to a question customers keep asking. News, event pages and limited offers are the opposite: they go stale on a known date.
Should I change the date when I update a page?
Only when the content changes in a way readers rely on. Google asks whether you change dates to make pages seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed. A typo fix or a new link doesn’t justify a new date.
Does Google show the date of my page?
Sometimes. Google estimates when a page was published or updated and can show it when it is useful. It doesn’t guarantee it, but a labeled visible date and the same date in your structured data help it find the right one.
What is the difference between datePublished and dateModified?
Both go in your Article structured data. datePublished is when the page first went live; dateModified is its last real update. Google asks that the dates in your markup match the ones visitors see on the page.
How often should I update evergreen content?
When its facts change: a price, a rule, a step in a tool. Recheck your most visited pages on a schedule that fits how fast your field moves, and update the date only when you change what the page says.
Sources
Read on November 4, 2026. Google Search Central: Influence your byline dates in Google Search and Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. Our own case: our guides and articles read as a visitor on November 4, 2026.