---
title: "Article Date Mismatch Stats: 19.7% Differ From Schema"
url: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/article-date-mismatches
description: "19.7% of 2,578 top-5 ranking pages show a <time> date matching none of their schema dates. Recipe pages hit 46.9%, and 54.8% of dateModified values are from 2026."
lang: en
---

Data Study · On-Page SEO

# Article Date Mismatches: 19.7% Differ From Schema

Among 2,578 top-5 ranking pages with both a visible <time> date and a schema or meta date, 19.7% show a date that matches none of the declared dates.

- 2,578 comparable ranking pages
- PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026

Matt Suffoletto: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/author/matt-suffoletto

Founder, PageSpeed Matters Published Oct. 19, 2026 6 min read

## Key Findings

1. **19.7%** of 2,578 top-5 ranking pages that have both a <time datetime> date and a JSON-LD or article meta date show a visible date matching none of the declared dates. Copy stat
2. Of 9,250 declared dateModified values, **54.8%** are from 2026 and **10.0%** are from 2024. Copy stat
3. Recipe pages account for 320 of the 2,578 comparable pages, and **46.9%** of them show a <time> date that differs from their schema dates, against **15.9%** across all other verticals. Copy stat
4. The #1 result declares a dateModified less often than positions 2 to 5 (**27.3%** of 6,285 pages against 32.7% of 23,014), but when it does, the date is more often from 2026 (**58.6%** against 53.9%). Copy stat
5. Finance (**73.6%**), apparel (73.4%) and software (71.1%) have the freshest declared dateModified values, while electronics (**36.4%**), fitness (37.6%) and recipes (37.7%) have the fewest from 2026. Copy stat
6. Declaring a dateModified at all ranges from **8.9%** of SaaS comparison pages and 9.2% of jewelry pages to **71.9%** of recipe pages. Copy stat

Declared dateModified from 2026, by vertical

Finance 73.6%

Apparel 73.4%

Software 71.1%

Real estate 69.1%

Insurance 68.4%

Education 44.5%

DIY 41.3%

Recipes 37.7%

Fitness 37.6%

Electronics 36.4%

Source: PageSpeed Matters. Top 5 Google results for 10,019 US keywords, Oct 2026.

Top and bottom 5 verticals shown; the full list is in the comparison table.

In this study

## Declared dates on top-5 ranking pages by vertical

| Vertical | Pages | Declare dateModified | Pages with dateModified | dateModified in 2026 | dateModified 2024 or earlier | Pages with `<time>` and schema date | `<time>` date mismatch |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Apparel | 921 | 11.8% | 109 | 73.4% | 17.4% | 46 | 10.9% |
| Auto parts | 844 | 26.1% | 220 | 59.1% | 23.2% | 53 | 11.3% |
| Baby | 1,044 | 28.8% | 301 | 50.2% | 25.2% | 82 | 12.2% |
| Beauty | 900 | 31.3% | 282 | 50.0% | 27.7% | 134 | 6.7% |
| Dental and medical | 1,067 | 36.1% | 385 | 54.0% | 23.4% | 31 | 19.4% |
| DIY | 945 | 29.2% | 276 | 41.3% | 40.9% | 101 | 13.9% |
| Education | 1,040 | 26.2% | 272 | 44.5% | 31.6% | 59 | 8.5% |
| Electronics | 834 | 40.2% | 335 | 36.4% | 35.5% | 89 | 14.6% |
| Finance | 960 | 32.7% | 314 | 73.6% | 10.8% | 88 | 5.7% |
| Fitness | 950 | 47.6% | 452 | 37.6% | 34.3% | 133 | 19.5% |
| Gaming | 1,117 | 19.2% | 215 | 57.7% | 29.8% | 69 | 13.0% |
| Gardening | 930 | 33.7% | 313 | 55.0% | 26.5% | 95 | 14.7% |
| Health | 1,175 | 36.1% | 424 | 49.5% | 24.3% | 90 | 17.8% |
| Home | 922 | 17.5% | 161 | 65.2% | 17.4% | 80 | 2.5% |
| Home services | 885 | 39.0% | 345 | 56.2% | 23.2% | 67 | 28.4% |
| Insurance | 956 | 28.5% | 272 | 68.4% | 14.3% | 49 | 16.3% |
| Jewelry | 1,123 | 9.2% | 103 | 63.1% | 20.4% | 37 | 2.7% |
| Kitchen | 848 | 37.9% | 321 | 45.5% | 33.3% | 113 | 20.4% |
| Legal | 1,207 | 42.9% | 518 | 60.0% | 25.1% | 47 | 31.9% |
| Marketing | 1,148 | 21.3% | 244 | 60.2% | 20.5% | 74 | 10.8% |
| Outdoor | 953 | 20.8% | 198 | 60.1% | 23.7% | 63 | 27.0% |
| Parenting | 583 | 39.8% | 232 | 55.6% | 22.4% | 83 | 9.6% |
| Pets | 992 | 38.2% | 379 | 60.2% | 20.8% | 85 | 22.4% |
| Real estate | 914 | 27.2% | 249 | 69.1% | 13.3% | 61 | 36.1% |
| Recipes | 862 | 71.9% | 620 | 37.7% | 38.5% | 320 | 46.9% |
| Restaurants | 741 | 33.7% | 250 | 60.4% | 23.2% | 75 | 17.3% |
| SaaS comparisons | 1,189 | 8.9% | 106 | 58.5% | 29.2% | 29 | n/a |
| Software | 1,246 | 48.0% | 598 | 71.1% | 13.0% | 147 | 12.2% |
| Supplements | 1,073 | 44.8% | 481 | 52.4% | 27.0% | 128 | 21.9% |
| Travel | 930 | 29.6% | 275 | 61.5% | 24.4% | 50 | 36.0% |

Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Mismatch rates are shown only where 30+ pages could be compared (n/a below that). Only dates inside <time> tags are compared.

## Summary

Most article pages state their dates twice: once for readers, often inside a `<time>` tag, and once for machines, in JSON-LD datePublished and dateModified or in article meta tags. When the two disagree, readers and search engines get different answers to a simple question: how current is this page?

We compared them on top-ranking pages. Among 2,578 top-5 ranking pages that have both a visible `<time>` date and a schema or meta date, 19.7% show a date that matches none of the declared dates. Recipe pages account for a large part of that, and most declared update dates are from 2026.

## What we measured

We looked at the top 5 Google results for 10,019 US keywords in October 2026. Of 49,855 pages, 29,776 were readable. On each page we read the JSON-LD datePublished and dateModified, article meta dates, and every `<time datetime>` value.

A page counts as a mismatch when its `<time>` date matches none of the dates declared in JSON-LD or article meta. 2,578 pages had both kinds of date and could be compared. Separately, we recorded whether each page declares a dateModified and which year it falls in.

Three limits apply. Only dates inside `<time>` tags are compared, so visible dates written as plain text are missed. Pages were read a few days after the rankings were recorded, which nudges the 2026 share up slightly. And a mismatch means a different calendar date, not necessarily a wrong one: a page can show its publish date while its markup also carries a later update.

## One in five pages show a date their markup doesn't

19.7% of the 2,578 comparable pages show a `<time>` date that matches none of their declared dates. On roughly one in five pages, then, the date a reader sees is not one of the dates the page tells machines.

Some of these are harmless, such as a visible "last reviewed" date that was never added to the markup. Others likely come from templates that print one date field in the theme and a different one in the SEO plugin, or from caching layers and plugins that update dateModified on every small edit without changing what the reader sees.

19.7%

Share of 2,578 comparable top-5 ranking pages whose visible <time> date matches none of their declared schema or meta dates.

## Recipe pages mismatch far more often

Recipe pages account for 320 of the 2,578 comparable pages, and 46.9% of them show a `<time>` date that differs from their schema dates. Across all other verticals the rate is 15.9%.

Recipe sites lean heavily on structured data, and recipe templates likely print a date near the title and in comment sections while the Recipe or Article markup carries another. Beyond recipes, real estate (36.1%), travel (36.0%) and legal (31.9%) also have high mismatch rates, while home (2.5%) and jewelry (2.7%) have the lowest among verticals with enough pages to compare.

## Most declared update dates are from 2026

Of 9,250 declared dateModified values, 54.8% are from 2026 and 10.0% are from 2024. Ranking pages that declare an update date mostly claim a recent one.

The #1 result declares a dateModified less often than positions 2 to 5: 27.3% of 6,285 pages against 32.7% of 23,014. But when the #1 result does declare one, the date is more often from 2026, 58.6% against 53.9%. This does not show that a fresh date helps a page rank; top results may simply be updated more often.

Freshness varies by vertical. Finance (73.6%), apparel (73.4%) and software (71.1%) have the freshest declared dateModified values, while electronics (36.4%), fitness (37.6%) and recipes (37.7%) have the fewest from 2026. Whether a page declares a dateModified at all ranges from 8.9% of SaaS comparison pages and 9.2% of jewelry pages to 71.9% of recipe pages.

## What this means for your site

Pick one source of truth for each date and print it everywhere:

- Compare the date your template shows with the datePublished and dateModified in your JSON-LD. View the page source and search for both.
- If you show an "updated" date, make sure dateModified carries the same day.
- If you show only the publish date, that is fine, but check that datePublished matches it.
- Do not let plugins bump dateModified on edits that change nothing a reader would notice. A date that moves without the content changing tells readers nothing.
- Wrap visible dates in a `<time>` tag with a datetime value, so the visible date is machine readable too.

## Sources

- PageSpeed Matters analysis of the top 5 Google results for 10,019 US keywords, October 2026
- Google Search Central, Article structured data: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article
- MDN Web Docs, the time element: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/time

## Embed this research

Paste this on your site to embed the chart. It links back to the source automatically.

<iframe id="psm-article-date-mismatches" src="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/embed/data-studies/article-date-mismatches" width="100%" height="600" style="width:100%;border:1px solid #E2E3E1;border-radius:12px" loading="lazy" title="Article Date Mismatches: 19.7% Differ From Schema - PageSpeed Matters"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="article-date-mismatches"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-article-date-mismatches");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/article-date-mismatches">Article Date Mismatches: 19.7% Differ From Schema - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>

## Frequently asked questions

### How common are mismatched article dates?

Among 2,578 top-5 ranking pages with both a visible <time> date and a schema or meta date, 19.7% show a date that matches none of the declared dates. On recipe pages the rate is 46.9%.

### How many ranking pages declare a dateModified?

It depends heavily on the topic: from 8.9% of SaaS comparison pages and 9.2% of jewelry pages to 71.9% of recipe pages. At #1, 27.3% of 6,285 pages declare one, against 32.7% of 23,014 pages at positions 2 to 5.

### Are declared update dates on ranking pages recent?

Mostly. Of 9,250 declared dateModified values, 54.8% are from 2026 and 10.0% are from 2024.

### How do I check if my article dates match?

View the page source and compare the datetime value in your <time> tag with datePublished and dateModified in your JSON-LD. The visible date should match one of them, ideally the one you label on the page.

Date mismatches usually come from one template and one plugin disagreeing, so aligning them fixes every article at once. Need help with this? See our on-page SEO services (https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/services/on-page-seo).

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How we measured

## Methodology & Source

Data source

Top 5 Google results for 10,019 US keywords

Collection date

October 2026

Sample

2,578 comparable ranking pages

Release

PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026

49,855 pages checked, 29,776 readable. We read JSON-LD datePublished and dateModified, article meta dates and <time datetime> values; 2,578 pages had both a <time> date and a declared date. Only dates inside <time> tags are compared, so plain-text dates are missed. Pages were read a few days after the rankings were recorded, which nudges the 2026 share up slightly. A mismatch means a different calendar date, not necessarily a wrong one.

Using this data?

## Cite this study

Link back to the study when you cite it.

APA

Matt Suffoletto. (2026). Article Date Mismatches: 19.7% Differ From Schema. PageSpeed Matters. https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/article-date-mismatches

Plain link

Article Date Mismatches: 19.7% Differ From Schema - PageSpeed Matters - https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/article-date-mismatches

## Related studies

- On-Page SEO Article Schema Authors: 1 in 4 Article Pages Name No Real Person: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/article-schema-authors
- On-Page SEO YMYL Author Bylines 2026: Only 53.6% of Top Pages: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/ymyl-author-bylines
- On-Page SEO Years in Title Tags: Only 4.1% of Top Results Say 2026: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/years-in-title-tags
- On-Page SEO FAQ Schema Usage 2026: Still on 2.9% of Top 1M Pages: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/faq-schema-usage

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