Websites typically record a timestamp for every action taken on the site, which can be useful in determining when the site was last updated. There are several ways to access this information, including through the site's sitemap, Google cache, web archive services, and a JavaScript-based script, including a popular online tool, which you’ll see as you keep reading this article.
Why Check When a Website Was Last Updated?
Checking when a website was last updated can be useful for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it can give you an indication of how active the website is and whether it is still being maintained. This can be important if you are relying on the information provided on the website for research or other purposes.
Secondly, it can also give you an idea of how current the information on the website is likely to be. If the website hasn't been updated for a long time, then the information on it may no longer be accurate or relevant.
Lastly, checking when a website was last updated can also be useful if you are trying to determine the credibility of the website. A website that is regularly updated and maintained is more likely to be trustworthy than one that has been neglected for a long time.
7 Ways to find out when a website was last updated
This article lists the several ways to determine the last time a website was updated:
1. Using JavaScript
When using a script based on JavaScript to find out when a website was last updated, you can follow these steps:
- Navigate to the website you want to check.
- Press the F12 key on your keyboard to open the Developer tools panel.
- Select the Console tab in the panel.
- Type in the following code: `javascript:alert(document.lastModified)`
- Press Enter.
- An alert will appear on the page with the timestamp of when the page was last updated. This information can be useful in determining when the webpage was last updated.
2. Using Internet Archive Tools
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that operates the Wayback Machine, which is a web crawling engine that captures snapshots of data on all public web pages. It takes periodic snapshots of websites and archives them, making them available for access in the future. By using the Wayback Machine, you can view historical versions of websites and see how they have changed over time. One of the pieces of data that is captured by the Wayback Machine is the most recent updated date of a website, which can be useful in determining when a website was last updated.
3. Using the Sitemap of the website
A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on a website, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index the site's content. To access the sitemap of a website, you can follow these steps:
- Open the root URL of the website you want to check.
- Add `/sitemap.xml` to the end of the URL.
- Press Enter.
- The sitemap file will be displayed, listing all the pages on the website.
- Look for the date or timestamp associated with each page to determine when it was last updated.
This can help you determine when the website as a whole was last updated.
4. Use the CacheView for Google Cache
Google Cache is a term used to describe the copies of web pages that Google stores. Google to take snapshots of each page as a backup in case the original page becomes unavailable, and these snapshots become part of the Google Cache. If a website is temporarily down, you can still access its content through the Google Cache. The frequency of updates to the Google Cache depends on how often the website updates itself.
Use the Cache View online tool to get the timestamp on when the website was last updated. This will help you determine when the website was last modified.
5. Check the HTTP Header
The HTTP header is a part of the HTTP protocol that contains details about the data being sent and received by a webpage. By checking the HTTP header of a webpage, you can find the latest updated date. To check the page's header, you can use this online tool: https://httpstatus.io/:
- Go to the website;
- Enter the URL of the webpage you want to check;
- The tool will produce a report that includes the latest updated date, the server, the content-type, and other details about the webpage's header.
- Look for the "Last-Modified" field in the report to find the latest updated date of the webpage.
- This information can be useful in determining when the webpage was last updated.
6. Use the “View Page Source”
To check when a website was last updated, you can follow these steps:
- Open the website in your browser.
- Right-click anywhere on the page and select "View Page Source" or "Inspect" (depending on your browser).
- In the source code, look for the "head" section and locate the "meta" tags.
- Check if there is a "meta" tag with the name "modified". If there is, it will display the date and time the website was last updated.
7. Use Website Change Detection and Alerts tool
Visual Ping is website change detection and alerts–an online tool for checking and monitoring website changes. You can simply use this tool to check the modified dates of any website, track changes and receive notifications whenever the website is updated.
Summing it up…
To check when a website was last updated, you can follow a few simple steps. First, navigate to the website in question. Then, look for a "Last Updated" or "Latest News" section on the homepage. If there is no such section, you can try checking the website's footer or contact page for any information about updates. Additionally, you can use a website analysis tool such as "Wayback Machine" to see a timeline of the website's updates and changes. By following these steps, you should be able to determine when the website was last updated.