Display Last Updated for posts

Support
#1

For published posts, instead of displaying the date the article was published, I’d like to display the last update rather than the date it was published.

Additionally, I’d like the change to alter the date displayed on google results rather than the original publication date.

What is the best way of doing this?

#2

Hi There,

Please add the following code under functions.php file locates in your child theme:

function x_integrity_entry_meta() {

    //
    // Author.
    //

    $author = sprintf( '<span><i class="x-icon-pencil" data-x-icon="&#xf040;"></i> %s</span>',
      get_the_author()
    );


    //
    // Date.
    //

    $date = sprintf( '<span><time class="entry-date" datetime="%1$s"><i class="x-icon-calendar" data-x-icon="&#xf073;"></i> %2$s</time></span>',
      esc_attr( get_the_date( 'c' ) ),
      esc_html( get_the_modified_date() )
    );


    //
    // Categories.
    //

    if ( get_post_type() == 'x-portfolio' ) {
      if ( has_term( '', 'portfolio-category', NULL ) ) {
        $categories        = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'portfolio-category' );
        $separator         = ', ';
        $categories_output = '';
        foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
          $categories_output .= '<a href="'
                              . get_term_link( $category->slug, 'portfolio-category' )
                              . '" title="'
                              . esc_attr( sprintf( __( "View all posts in: &ldquo;%s&rdquo;", '__x__' ), $category->name ) )
                              . '"><i class="x-icon-bookmark" data-x-icon="&#xf02e;"></i> '
                              . $category->name
                              . '</a>'
                              . $separator;
        }

        $categories_list = sprintf( '<span>%s</span>',
          trim( $categories_output, $separator )
        );
      } else {
        $categories_list = '';
      }
    } else {
      $categories        = get_the_category();
      $separator         = ', ';
      $categories_output = '';
      foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
        $categories_output .= '<a href="'
                            . get_category_link( $category->term_id )
                            . '" title="'
                            . esc_attr( sprintf( __( "View all posts in: &ldquo;%s&rdquo;", '__x__' ), $category->name ) )
                            . '"><i class="x-icon-bookmark" data-x-icon="&#xf02e;"></i> '
                            . $category->name
                            . '</a>'
                            . $separator;
      }

      $categories_list = sprintf( '<span>%s</span>',
        trim( $categories_output, $separator )
      );
    }


    //
    // Comments link.
    //

    if ( comments_open() ) {

      $title  = apply_filters( 'x_entry_meta_comments_title', get_the_title() );
      $link   = apply_filters( 'x_entry_meta_comments_link', get_comments_link() );
      $number = apply_filters( 'x_entry_meta_comments_number', get_comments_number() );

	  $text = ( 0 === $number ) ? 'Leave a Comment' : sprintf( _n( '%s Comment', '%s Comments', $number, '__x__' ), $number );

$comments = sprintf( '<span><a href="%1$s" title="%2$s" class="meta-comments"><i class="x-icon-comments" data-x-icon="&#xf086;"></i> %3$s</a></span>',
        esc_url( $link ),
        esc_attr( sprintf( __( 'Leave a comment on: &ldquo;%s&rdquo;', '__x__' ), $title ) ),
        $text
      );

    } else {

      $comments = '';

    }


    //
    // Output.
    //

    if ( x_does_not_need_entry_meta() ) {
      return;
    } else {
      printf( '<p class="p-meta">%1$s%2$s%3$s%4$s</p>',
        $author,
        $date,
        $categories_list,
        $comments
      );
    }

}

Hope it helps :slight_smile:

#3

Sorry for the delayed reply to your excellent help. I wasn’t previously using a child theme, so getting that set up was step #1 for me.

Once I successfully got the child theme up and running adding this code was easy and it looks great on the front end.

I’ll wait for Google to crawl again to see if they are using the update dates, but I optimistic. Thanks again for the help!

#4

Glad we could help.

Cheers!

#5

The Search Engine Results are now showing the correct date as well.

Huge assist! Thanks!

1 Like
#6

Glad we could help.

Cheers!