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HTML <time> Tag

  • The HTML <time> tag specifies a machine-readable date/time.
  • It represents a datetime in either a machine-readable format or in a time zone independent manner.
  • This tag can be used to define a date and/or a time and it provides semantics for search engines and other crawlers as well.

Syntax

The syntax for the <time> tag is as follows:

<time datetime="YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD"> Text to display or date/time </time>

Example

<p>My birthday is on <time datetime="1995-12-05">December 5, 1995</time>.</p>
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Explanation

The datetime attribute of the <time> tag specifies a machine-readable date/time. It should follow this format: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD.

  • YYYY: 4-digit year
  • MM: 2-digit month (with leading zeros)
  • DD: 2-digit day (with leading zeros)
  • T: separator
  • hh: 24-hour format hour
  • mm: minutes (with leading zeros)
  • ss: seconds (with leading zeros)
  • TZD: Time zone designator (Z or +hh:mm or -hh:mm)

The text within the <time> tag provides a human-readable date/time and it is displayed to the user if the browser doesn't support the datetime attribute.

Use

The <time> tag can be used in various scenarios, some of them include:

  • Blog posts
  • News articles
  • Events
  • Reviews
  • Comments

By using the <time> tag, search engines and other crawlers can easily recognize a specific date or time on a web page, which can enhance search engine optimization (SEO) and help drive traffic to a website.

Important Points

  • The datetime attribute must be in the specified format to be machine-readable.
  • The text within the <time> tag should be followed by an appropriate date or time format.
  • The text within the <time> tag is displayed to users if the datetime attribute is not supported by the browser.
  • The <time> tag can help improve SEO and drive traffic to a website.

Summary

The <time> tag in HTML is a useful feature that adds semantic value to a webpage by specifying a machine-readable date/time. It enables search engines to recognize the date/time on a webpage, thereby enhancing its SEO value. By using this tag, web developers can easily display dates and times in a consistent format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.

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