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If a webpage (with static URL) gets updated frequently (like every few days) with new information/details, which of the following is the best practice from a SEO perspective?

1) Publish "Create Date" ONLY, like 

<h1>Page Heading</h1>
**<p>Published on 12-May-2020</p>**
<p>main article content</p>

2) Publish "Updated Date" ONLY, like 

<h1>Page Heading</h1>
**<p>Updated on 12-May-2020</p>** 
<p>main article content</p>

3) Publish BOTH "Create Date" AND "Updated Date", like 

<h1>Page Heading</h1>
**<p>Originally Published on 02-Jan-2020, Updated on 12-May-2020</p>** 
<p>main article content</p>

Which one fits best for SEO?

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  • Do users expect fresh information? Do they notice and care when you don't update the page? Does it look out of date if you don't update? How much of it changes? Is there a way to see history?
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Jun 4, 2020 at 8:53
  • @StephenOstermiller, YES, the update date is relevant to the users as it contains time-sensitive information, and they do expect fresh info and do notice and care for the update. One of the examples is "how much a price has changed in the last 30 days". Updates are made every week or fortnight. History is maintained in selected cases, like few webpages have past history and new info gets added as additional row in a table, other webpages simply override the earlier information.
    – Aquaholic
    Commented Jun 4, 2020 at 14:22

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If you use White hat seo, you have to write update date and time intentionally. Maybe you use CMS such as wordpress, wix, Joomla, you don't have to change date style. Google bot crawls frequently your content, and compares it with previous content. Although you write publish date and update date, google bot uses its own date. So, in my thought and experience, you'd better use 3rd style.

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