How to Find Out When a Webpage Was Published (Date & Time)

It’s a classic question from a student or researcher’s perspective because it is essential to inspect any topic to get the right and updated knowledge. But, sometimes, the timestamp and date of publication of blogs and articles on various websites are missing.

However, it becomes more critical for us to find out when the last time that article was updated and whether it has the latest information.

So, how will you find out when a webpage was published? Don’t worry! If you are not familiar with this, make sure to read the guide until the end. So, without moving the thing around, let’s dive into it directly.

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List of Best Methods to Find Out When a Webpage Was Published

There are several methods available that you can use to find out the published date of any webpage. And guess what? Here, we mentioned all the methods, so make sure to follow them carefully:

Method 1: Find The Published Via Google

You can use Google to find the published date of any web page. So, if you don’t know how then follow the steps given below:

1. Firstly, open your Google Chrome browser and type inurl: in the search box.
2. Now, you must paste the website URL right next to inurl: and hit the enter key.
3. Finally, add &as_qdr=y15 right next to your URL and hit the enter key again. Now, you can see the date under the webpage’s title.

Method 2: Carbon Dating the Web

Did you hear about carbon dating? We may all hear about this topic in our 7th or 8th grade in Chemistry. But, is it possible to carbon date any webpage? Of course, this is possible. But, how? Let’s see.

1. Firstly, reach out to the Carbon Dating Web.
2. Now, enter the URL to check the published date and hit the carbon date!

Method 3: Check the Source Code

Unfortunately, if you still have no luck finding the date of publication of a webpage using the above two methods. Then, we recommend you use the source code of that website. So, here are the steps:

1. First, you can hover over to the webpage where you wish to know the publish date.
2. Then, right-click on the text and select the View Page Source.
3. Now, press Ctrl + Fthen search for Publish.
4. That’s it. As you can see in the picture below, you’ll have to find published_time, datePublished, publish dateetc.

This depends upon your luck and whether the website allows viewers to comment. So, yeah! If you see a comment box available below the post, look if someone leaves their valuable thoughts in the comment section. Then, check the last posted comment date. This will give you an idea of whether that webpage has been updated recently or not.

Method 5: Wayback Machine

Did you hear about the time machine? Well, most probably, you did. But did you know there is a time machine available in Google that helps you go back and check how that website looked a few years ago? Yes, we are talking about the Wayback Machine.

You can use this website to find out the publishing date of any website. So, to do so, follow the steps given below:

1. Firstly, go to the Wayback Machine.
2. Then, copy and paste your website’s link in the Wayback search.
3. Finally, hit the browser history. Now, wait until it searches for your webpage.
4. That’s it. Now, it will show a graph and tell you when that was webpage comes into action.

These are some methods for finding out when a webpage was published. We hope the methods mentioned above helped you. However, if you have any issues while using any methods, feel free to comment on your problem in the comment box.