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Social and Open GraphIssue 97

Article missing a modified date

What Is This Issue

The article:modified_time meta tag specifies when an article or blog post was last updated or modified. This helps social platforms and search engines understand that content has been refreshed or improved.

This issue checks whether your page has the article:modified_time tag implemented (for article-type content that has been updated). A passing implementation must include:

  • article:modified_time - The ISO 8601 datetime when the article was last modified

Example of passing implementation:

<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00" />
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-03-20T14:45:00+00:00" />

Why Is This Important

The article:modified_time tag is valuable for content updates and social sharing:

  • Content freshness: Signals to users and platforms that content has been updated
  • Update visibility: Social platforms may display “Updated” timestamps
  • Search relevance: Search engines use modification dates for freshness signals
  • User trust: Users can see if they’re viewing the most recent version
  • AI Search / AEO: AI systems use modification dates to understand content currency

Without the article:modified_time tag:

  • Updates to content are not visible to social platforms
  • Users may not know if they’re seeing the latest version
  • Missed opportunity to signal content improvements

Resolving this issue improves content update signaling in social sharing and contributes to a higher overall SEO health score by providing freshness metadata.

How XeoPix Detects This

XeoPix checks for the article:modified_time tag by:

  1. Fetching the page HTML after following all redirects
  2. Identifying article pages: Checking if og:type is “article” or page appears to be article-like
  3. Parsing the <head> section to extract the meta tag with property="article:modified_time"
  4. Validating presence: Checks that the tag exists on article pages that appear to be updated
  5. Validating format: Ensures the value is a parseable datetime in ISO 8601 format
  6. Flagging the issue if the tag is missing on updated article pages or contains an invalid format

The detection is performed on the raw HTML response without JavaScript execution, matching how social media crawlers see your pages.

How To Fix

  1. Add the article:modified_time tag to your HTML <head> section (for updated articles):

    • Use ISO 8601 datetime format: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss±hh:mm
    • Only add if the article has been substantially updated after publication
    • Update this value each time you make significant changes

  2. Only use for article-type content:

    • Set og:type to “article” on pages with this tag
    • Don’t add to homepage, product pages, or non-article content

  3. Maintain accuracy:

    • Update the timestamp only for meaningful content changes
    • Don’t change for minor typo fixes or formatting adjustments
    • Keep article:published_time as the original publication date

  4. Test your implementation:

    • Use Facebook Sharing Debugger to verify the date is detected
    • Check that modification dates display correctly on social platforms

What We Store

Storage Level

Page Level

Database Table / Prisma Model

SocialOpenGraphData

Stored Fields

FieldTypeDescription
ogArticleModifiedTimeDateTime?Open Graph article modified time (og:article:modified_time)

Detection Dependencies

  • HTML Document
  • Meta Tags (og:article:modified_time)

Examples

Example 1: Missing Article Modified Time

Problematic state (what fails):

<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00" />
<!-- Missing article:modified_time for updated article -->

Corrected state (what passes):

<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00" />
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-03-20T14:45:00+00:00" />

Example 2: Modified Time Before Published Time

Problematic state (what fails):

<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-03-20T14:45:00+00:00" />
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00" />
<!-- Modified time is before published time -->

Corrected state (what passes):

<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00" />
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-03-20T14:45:00+00:00" />
<!-- Modified time is after published time -->

Example 3: Non-Updated Article with Modified Time

Problematic state (what fails):

<!-- Article has never been updated -->
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00" />
<!-- Same as published time, unnecessary -->

Corrected state (what passes):

<!-- Only add modified_time if article has been substantially updated -->
<!-- Otherwise, omit the tag -->

Unit Test

Test File

xeopix-crawling-v2/__tests__/seo-audit-checks/socialOpenGraph/issue-124-article-modified-time.test.js

Purpose

Validates that the crawler detects article pages missing the article:modified_time meta tag.

Tested Function

runSocialOpenGraph()

Issue Information

  • Issue Number: 124
  • Issue Code: article_modified_time
  • Toggle Group: socialOpenGraph

Test Scenarios

Positive Test Cases

  • Page is an article (og:type="article") and article:modified_time is present → no issue detected.
  • Page is not an article (e.g., og:type="website") → no issue detected.

Negative Test Cases

  • Page is an article (og:type="article") but article:modified_time is missing → issue detected with message "Article modified time meta tag is missing".

Boundary Cases

No boundary cases exist in the test.

Edge Cases

  • Empty HTML: The function handles an empty string without throwing.

Expected Outcome

Pass

The issue should not be reported when either the page is not an article type, or article:modified_time is present on an article page.

Fail

The issue should be reported when the page is an article type and article:modified_time is missing.

Validation

  • Correctly detects missing article:modified_time on article pages.
  • Does not report a false positive on non-article pages.
  • Handles empty HTML gracefully without crashing.
  • xeopix-crawling-v2/toggleGroups/socialOpenGraph.js
  • xeopix-crawling-v2/issueCodes.js

Coverage Summary

  • Covers present and missing article:modified_time scenarios.
  • Validates non-article pages are ignored.
  • Includes resilience test for empty input.

References

Last updated on
Issue 96Issue 98