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In this tutorial we will cover the how and why you would want to change Date and Time on your WordPress website.

A WordPress website will automatically display the date and time when pages and posts are added or updated in line with those configured on your homepage. However, you can change the date and time and customize them.

Change Date and Time in WordPress

First, you must be logged in to your Hosted.com Account.

Hosted.com Login Page

1. Login to your Hosted.com account with your username and password.

Hosted.com Client Portal - Dashboard

2. Click on “Manage Services”.

Hosted.com Client Portal - Manage Services

3. Select “WordPress Hosting” from the drop-down menu.

Hosted.com Client Portal - WordPress Hosting

4. Click “Manage” on the right of the screen

Hosted.com Client Portal - Manage WordPress Hosting

5. In “Product Information” followed by “Control Panel” you will see cPanel on the right

6. Click “Login”.

Hosted.com Client Portal - cPanel Logged In

7. Click on your domain name to go to your WordPress Admin area.

Now that you are in your WordPress site’s back end you can start changing your time and date settings on the WordPress Dashboard:

Change Date And Time For A WordPress Website - WordPress Dashboard

8. Go to “Settings” and select “General.”

9. Click on the “Time Zone” dropdown menu and choose the appropriate one, for example: your city.

10. Alternatively, you can set the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) Time Zone.

11. Scroll down to the “Date Format” and “Time Format” sections.

Change Date And Time For A WordPress Website - Date And Time Settings

12. Select the Formats you require for both or create a custom Format.

13. Once you have selected a Format, a preview will appear at the bottom of the Options list.

14. Click “Save Changes” to apply the new settings.

Note: Ensure your site’s date and time settings are correct. This ensures that your scheduled posts are published in the right order. It also ensures they are displayed correctly both on the front end of your page and on the back end.

Additional Information

WordPress Date and Time Formats

The WordPress Dashboard offers multiple time and date formats. Some common ones are:

Date

F j, Y: Displays the full name of the month, followed by the day, and year, for example, January 1, 2024.

M/D/Y: Displays the month, followed by the day then the year, for example, 01/01/2024.

M-D-Y: Displays the month, followed by the day of the month and the year, separated by hyphens, for example, 01-01-2024.

Y/M/D: Displays the year, followed by the month, then the day, separated by slashes, for example, 2024/01/01.

Time

g: i a: The hour in 12-hour format, followed by minutes and “am” or “pm”, for example, 1:30 pm.

H:i: Shows The hour in 24-hour format, followed by the minutes, for example, 13:30.

Why Change Date and Time for a WordPress Site?

Aside from simply having the correct date and time displayed, changing them on your WordPress site has additional benefits.

First, search engines like Google prefer websites that regularly add new content and update their posts. Showing the correct date and time in your posts can help improve your website’s visibility. It signals to search engine crawlers that you are keeping your content fresh, which can potentially help your site rank higher. Next, different parts of the world use alternative date and time formats. If your website caters to an international audience, such as the United Kingdom, which uses a different date format to the US, you may want to change it so your posts resonate better with your users.

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