KP Services likes to pride itself on value-added service. In this spirit, one of the bonuses you receive as a KP Services client is a complimentary update of your website copyright date. How often do you visit a site and the copyright still says 2003 or such? What is your first impression?
Keeping the copyright updated annually (I prefer the ‘range’ format of © 1995 – 2009) does a couple of things. First, it shows a continued commitment to the concept, product or service behind the website. Second, if your website is fairly static, it helps refresh it in the search engines.
Why is a manual update better than using javascript (as an example) to keep track of the date? Because a script is dynamic and the results of the script aren’t considered very searchable. This means that search engines aren’t going to notices changes in it. When an individual HTML file is used for the copyright, once that new file is updated, the search engines see the website as containing something new and will be more likely to re-index it.
So, to my clients, blog readers and everyone else, here’s to an awesome 2009. You’re all up to date!