---
title: "Article has no machine-readable or visible date (geo/article-date-missing)"
description: "geo/article-date-missing: Freshness is a selection signal for Bing/Copilot and answer engines; Google wants datePublished/dateModified plus a visible date…"
canonical: https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/article-date-missing
lastModified: 2026-09-16
---

# Article has no machine-readable or visible date

`geo/article-date-missing` · severity **warn** · category AI search · detected by `void geo` and `void audit`

## Why it matters

Freshness is a selection signal for Bing/Copilot and answer engines; Google wants datePublished/dateModified plus a visible date that matches.

## How to fix it

Show <time dateTime> for published/updated and emit the same values in BlogPosting JSON-LD.

## Example

```tsx
<p><time dateTime={post.updated}>Updated {post.updated.slice(0, 10)}</time></p>
```

## References

- https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article
- https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview

## More ai search rules

`void geo` reports 41 rules in this category. Generative-engine optimisation: whether AI crawlers that don't run JavaScript see the same content, valid and visible JSON-LD, an explicit AI robots policy, llms.txt, Markdown mirrors and answer-first writing.

- `faq-deprecated` FAQPage/HowTo/SearchAction markup no longer produces rich results — [geo/faq-deprecated](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/faq-deprecated)
- `jsonld-id-unresolved` JSON-LD @id references don't resolve — [geo/jsonld-id-unresolved](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/jsonld-id-unresolved)
- `jsonld-not-visible` Structured data values don't appear on the page — [geo/jsonld-not-visible](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/jsonld-not-visible)
- `entity-name-mismatch` Brand name differs across og:site_name, JSON-LD and title — [geo/entity-name-mismatch](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/entity-name-mismatch)
- `article-author-missing` Article author missing or malformed — [geo/article-author-missing](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/article-author-missing)
- `landmarks` Missing <main>, <nav> or <article> landmarks — [geo/landmarks](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/landmarks)
- `thin-content` Article main content under 150 words — [geo/thin-content](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/thin-content)
- `answer-first` Opening paragraph doesn't state the answer concisely — [geo/answer-first](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/geo/answer-first)

Detected by `void geo` and `void audit`. Explain it in a terminal: `void rules geo/article-date-missing`