how to check when a website was last updated

Chris Granat
October 25, 2022

If you are like most people, you probably visit a number of websites on a daily basis. Whether you are checking the news, browsing for products, or looking for information, the web is a valuable resource. No one likes outdated information, especially when it comes to websites. Out-of-date sites can be frustrating to navigate and may not contain the most current information. So how can you tell if a website is up-to-date? In this blog post, we’ll discuss a few tips on how to check when a website was last updated. We’ll also provide some advice on what to do if you find an out-of-date site.

5 Simple Ways To See When a Website Was Last Updated

If you want to verify the date any website was last published, here are a few simple ways for checking.

1. Source Code

This is probably the most straightforward method of checking a website’s published date. Simply right-click on the page and select “View Page Source.” A new tab will open with the page’s source code, which you can then browse through to look for a date. Keep in mind that this method isn’t foolproof, as the date in the source code could be from an earlier version of the website that’s no longer live. However, it’s still worth checking if you’re looking for a quick answer.

2. Sitemap

Most websites have an xml sitemap, which is basically an index of all the pages on the site. XML Sitemaps are a great way for websites to inform search engines about their structure. The “Last Modified Date” timestamp will help show when the last revisions were made to the page.

3. Footer

One way to check when a website was last updated is to look at the bottom of the web page. Many websites include the date of their last update in the footer. The copyright date is usually updated every year, unless a website designer is no longer maintaining the website on a regular basis.

4. Cache

Google maintains cached copies of many websites so that they can be accessed more quickly if the original site is down or slow. These cached versions also include timestamps that show when they were last updated. To check Google’s cached data for a particular website, simply go to google.com and do a Google search for “cache:” followed by the URL of the site you’re interested in (e.g., cache:www.example.com). This should bring up a Google cache version of that site, complete with a timestamp showing the indexed date of when it was last updated.

5. Wayback Machine

Another way to check when a website was updated is to use the Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine is a digital internet archive that contains snapshots of more than 330 billion web pages dating back to 1996. To use it, simply enter the URL of the site you want to check into the Wayback Machine’s search bar. Once you hit enter, you’ll see a calendar with dates highlighted in blue; these are dates on which snapshots of the site were taken. Click on any of those dates to see what the site looked like on that day.

Updating Websites: Final Thoughts

Checking when a website was last updated or who is the website publisher is a quick and easy process that anyone can do with just a few clicks. The next time you come across an outdated website, don’t get frustrated—just follow the steps in this guide to find out when it was last updated so you know whether or not the information is current.

Chris Granat

Chris is the founder and lead web designer at Flamingo Agency, a Chicago web design firm.