Auto Renew Post Dates

A WordPress plugin that automatically updates the published date of posts and custom post types on a configurable schedule, keeping your content fresh for search engine reindexing.

Why

Search engines like Google use the post modified date to decide how frequently to revisit a page. This plugin lets you touch that date on a regular interval without editing the content, so posts stay indexed as recently updated.

Features

• Enable auto-renew per post/CPT via a sidebar meta box in the editor
• Bulk enable on all published posts across all post types from the settings page
• Schedule updates every 7 days, 15 days, or a custom interval (1–30 days)
• Optional custom time-of-day for when the date update fires
• Admin settings page listing all enrolled posts with their next scheduled push date
• Inline frequency editing from the settings page without leaving the screen

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 7.4+

Installation

1. Upload the wp-auto-update-post folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate the plugin through Plugins > Installed Plugins in the WordPress admin.
3. Go to Auto Renew in the admin sidebar to configure settings.

Usage

Enable on a single post

1. Open any post or CPT in the editor.
2. Find the Auto Renew Post Date box in the right sidebar.
3. Check Enable Auto Renew, choose a frequency, and save the post.

Bulk enable on all posts

1. Go to Auto Renew in the admin sidebar.
2. Select a frequency under Enable on All Posts (All Post Types).
3. Click Enable Auto Renew on All Posts.

Manage enrolled posts

The settings page lists every enrolled post with its post type, frequency, and next scheduled push date. You can edit the frequency inline and click Update, or click Delete to remove a post from the schedule.

How it works

A WordPress cron event (auto_renew_cron_hook) runs hourly. For each enrolled post it checks whether the configured interval has elapsed since the last push. If it has, it calls wp_update_post() with the current date and time (optionally at a custom time), which updates post_date and post_date_gmt and triggers a standard WordPress save — enough for Google Search Console to pick up the change on the next crawl.

Changelog

1.1

• Added bulk enable for all post types (CPTs included)
• Meta box now appears on all public post types, not just Posts
• Fixed CSRF vulnerability on delete/clear settings actions
• Fixed autosave wiping the enabled state per post
• Fixed AJAX frequency update (nonce was never sent in the request)
• Fixed admin page load corrupting the cron schedule anchor
• Fixed cron silently re-enabling posts that were manually disabled
• Unified two separate cron queries into one for efficiency
• Standardised internal meta key for last push date

1.0

• Initial release

Author

Sonu Gupta