Remove Embedded Timestamp

[midlandsmaidens]

Embedded timestamps are not needed in Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress, or any of the other SEO plugins that are used by WordPress.

Yoast though apparently thinks otherwise.

Even though their own support team are acquiescing that 'Google will decide if a timestamp is added', Yoast is now trying to hammer this home by using embedded timestamps on ALL pages, the HOMEpage, posts, products, portfolios, and any other type of custom post type, meaning that a user now has to navigate around this monstrous embedded timestamp, that in the majority of cases won't even be shown by Google and in fact just reduces the real-estate for editing the description snippet.

Please realise that this is a huge mistake as if Google wants to show timestamps, then it will - regardless of whether there is an embedded timestamp in the Yoast plugin or not.

Posts I can understand, I've noticed posts from my own website having dates added regardless of the old system whereby the 'hide date' option in the Yoast plugin was set to 'off'.

So why not just remove the 'hide date' option without embedding a timestamp?

I'm finding version 14.7 un-usable in its present format and have now moved to another SEO plugin.

I'd be back in a heartbeat though if this embedded timestamp issue was removed in the new version.

[Djennez]

@midlandsmaidens thanks for the report. It has come up on a few occasions and I'll ask the PO's to have a look at all the comments / feedback.

Please note that the removal of the option, and the permanent placement of the date, was done to remove confusion. People were thinking that enabling / disabling our option, would add / remove the date in Google. Like you say yourself, this is not the case, since Google has its own magic to decide when to show a date in the snippet.

[midlandsmaidens]

Indeed, in fact it would cause MORE confusion with the date-stamp forced upon users, and then needing to tell them that the date-stamp might not be shown after all.

Hope this is sorted out soon!

[chrisadwebservices]

The problem - the date snippet is taking up characters in description previews when the date snippet will never be shown in Google search results. Now I have to use a third party tool to see if the description is under 155 characters. Yoast just lost the main reason people use it over competitors.

I don’t really know why the decision was made to include the date snippet as mandatory. But I’ve read elsewhere it’s because of confusion… which is confusing. Why not put it back as an option and let people who get confused by a simple toggle remain confused while the rest of us can use the tool as intended - to actual preview practical descriptions.

The change negatively effects us – our entire industry.

Also, I could share hundreds of examples of the date not showing on my end but there’s really no need to.

It doesn’t make sense for us that use WordPress for page-heavy websites (not post-heavy) to have the real estate of the description taken up by a date that will literally never ever show in search results.

When we are making hundreds of titles/descriptions for pages – what is the use of the plugin if it shows previews of descriptions that are not accurate? And the description character limit is taken up by a date snippet that causes us to use a third party tool to count characters on the side because the plugin no longer does it for us?

I really wish you would add the option to remove the date from the snippet preview. I know you’re probably getting a lot of the same feedback. Hopefully you add that option back! I've been a loyal Yoast user for many many years and recommend it to everyone - this makes me really sad! And I too hope this gets sorted out soon!

[canarybird]

This is destroying my SEO. Many of my posts were written years ago, and even though they have been marked as updated, the old date is showing! WHY would you remove the ability to stop date showing in snippets?

This is not a theme issue, as it appears in several of my blogs. Also, as others said: I could use that real estate to make a more attractive description. No letter is wasted!

Please tell me how to revert back to an earlier version of Yoast, or return this feature. Thank you.

[midlandsmaidens]

As I understand it, Google is starting to show the timestamp on old posts regardless of the settings in Yoast.

The problem that I have personally with this though, is not the timestamp shown on posts, as they can be updated, and the new timestamp should show in a few days.

My problem is with the latest embedded timestamp that Yoast is throwing at every post, page, custom post type, portfolio, product, and even the homepage, forcing everyone using Yoast to navigate around an un-necessary obstacle, that quite possibly will cause further confusion by not even appearing at all.

The easy way to rollback to a previous version of Yoast is to use the 'Rollback' plugin, found in the WordPress repository.

There is another way by going into the advanced settings of the Yoast plugin page, downloading the version you wanted, then uploading it to your install, but the Rollback way is much easier.

The version you should be looking for in both cases is Yoast version 14.6.1, which is the last version without the embedded timestamp feature.

[canarybird]

Thanks very much for this, midlandsmaidens. I think maybe I have to take immediate action and find an update that shows on search pages, not just on individual posts. Can you tell me what updater plugin you use?

[midlandsmaidens]

Hi @canarybird

Using the above plugin should stop you in needing to find a solution for pages, as the embedded timestamp won't be on it.

As for 'updater plugins', I don't use one - I go through my blog posts maybe two or three per week and 'evergreen' them, ie add new images and content and remove anything that's no longer relevant.

If you've not got the time to do this 'evergreening' though, there's a very highly rated plugin that works with all of the main SEO plugins called 'WP Last Modified Info', where you can add a 'Last modified on...(date)', which Google should pick up on the next time it crawls your posts.

[canarybird]

Wonderful! Thanks so much and will check that out! Still hope Yoast reads this thread...

[midlandsmaidens]

Just something else that I think needs mentioning:

Just been doing one of my SERPS checks for the week, and I found that all of my competitors that are using the version of Yoast with the embedded timestamp feature have dropped out of existence now that Google has caught up with their silly timestamps on homepages.

When will Yoast finally admit that they made a huge blunder with this awful decision and it's confusing Google??

[Djennez]

The showing / hiding of the date in the metabox does not influence Google. It's a visual aid in the snippet preview and not something that Google can see or get influenced by.

[midlandsmaidens]

I must beg to differ on that last comment Djennez, as will my competitors that have just fallen through the floor from (in one case) a page one ranking at position 1-2, down to nowhere.

The visibly embedded timestamp, that we are now forced to navigate around, is also visible in the source code, so how can Google NOT see it?

Far from it being a visual aid, it's a huge inconvenience to all those that are forced to use it, and this blunder should be removed as soon as possible.

[Djennez]

is also visible in the source code

Please explain.

[midlandsmaidens]

Just checked, and my apologies, it's NOT in the source code.

Rather confusing that, isn't it, that something that's in the meta description box does NOT appear in the source code?

This new version is far too confusing and if Yoast is refusing to allay the confusion, I'll soldier on with a less confusing SEO plugin (and let my competitors worry why Yoast is not working for them either).

[Djennez]

Just checked, and my apologies, it's NOT in the source code.

Apology accepted.

Rather confusing that, isn't it, that something that's in the meta description box does NOT appear in the source code?

Depends on your experience / knowledge / acceptance; The snippet editor was never meant, or marketed, as the interface that Google will use to show your page. And as we've made clear; we do not influence if Google does or does not show the date. That's up to them. Which is the main reason we removed the option to hide the date; people were thinking that this was actually affecting results in Google.

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As for the argument that was brought forward in another comment: the date is taking up characters / pixels: Yes, it is. And this is annoying for users who have created their description w/o date to the absolute pixel limit to keep it within the preview. But again: you can't influence when Google will show the date. So you can create a description without date and fill it to the limit. But if Google then decides to show the date, your description gets cut off. While with a (forced) date display, it can only be a more positive situation where Google does not show the date, and your description is 1 or 2 words shorter (but still not cut off).

I think this is more a matter of accepting a change that was meant to remove confusion for (newer \ less knowledgable) users, than a true hindrance.

But, keep in mind:

• This change does not influence SEO directly.
• This feature request is still open and you're still free to contribute to the discussion. In general; please try to base arguments on facts / observations. Even though SEO is pretty unpredictable at times.

[midlandsmaidens]

Well all I will add to that is that in my 10 years of experience with Yoast (and a few other SEO plugins), I have NEVER found a date on the homepage of any website, or on its pages, or products, or custom post types.

Blog posts, of course, are MEANT to be dated, and these are now beginning to filter through.

It really is beyond my limited way of thinking that Yoast now chooses to add this timestamp on every page, whether it will be shown or not, to cure the confusion created, whereas previously all that was needed was turning a toggle from 'off' to 'on'.

I maintain that this method used now is a blunder, and if it's not reversed, then many more people like my competitors will leave Yoast once they find out why their rankings have dropped, whether this is due to Yoast or not, but one thing I can guarantee is that the timestamp is a tell-tale indicator that there is something now present that was not added by the user.

[midlandsmaidens]

I've given up on this, and have tranferred all of my websites over to Rank Math, who ensured me that there are no plans to put embedded timestamps into their meta snippets.

I'll leave the topic open in case anyone else wants to comment.

Bye!